Waterkeeper versus coal trains - the real story

Anita Perry’s letter to the editor (Dec. 6, Daily Bee) about the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper reminds me that people need to learn the truth about this issue before speaking out.

This is not a political issue, but it is of economic and quality of life significance for all of us.

I presented comments representing myself and my family at the scoping meeting on Dec. 4 and I heard those of the LPOW. This hearing was conducted, not by the Waterkeeper, but by the Army Corps of Engineers, Washington State Department of Ecology and Whatcom County, Wash. There were about 30 (out of nearly 100) speakers favoring the expanded coal train traffic, most of whom were from the Bellingham, Wash., area. The argument in favor was creation of some jobs in Washington.

My comments, and those of the Waterkeeper, were directed specifically at getting the Sandpoint area included in any impact studies that will be conducted during the review and approval process. The current plan is to provide impact studies only of the terminal site near Bellingham, ignoring North Idaho’s interests all together.

Here is the plan:

1. Wealthy mining interests in Montana and Wyoming want to sell dirty coal to Asia, opening more land for strip mining, increasing train shipments and producing huge profits for themselves and the railroad barons.

2. Other wealthy interests want to build a coal export terminal near Bellingham, Washington and profit for themselves, creating only a few local jobs there.

3. Everyone in between (like Sandpoint) apparently will have no say and will get no benefit whatsoever — no revenue, no new jobs; rather, we will become conveyor communities through which more coal trains will rumble daily.

No one knows for sure all of the negative impacts of increased coal train traffic for us, but evidence warrants our inclusion in the impact studies. That’s what I was asking for at the Scoping Meeting: Include us in the studies so we can learn the truth about this project and our risks.

KEN LARSON

Sagle