State Determines Coal Train Study Will Be Statewide
The state Department of Ecology yesterday announced that the environmental impact statement for the proposed Cherry Point coal terminal on the north Puget Sound coast will look beyond the immediate area when considering the effects of a new port.
Consultants will study the health and safety impacts of added train traffic throughout Washington, and the possible increase of greenhouse gases from burning that coal in China and other Asian countries.
The Spokesman-Review has the latest.
About SRTC
SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.
SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.
2 comments:
Well I think more coal trains would mean more congestion as the trains block streets, and more pollution from the diesel engines, it might also speed up BNSF in making more double track between here and Sandpoint. There were three trains waiting at Houser today for an open track west, they need more capacity.
As for the coal dust I have followed some coal trains doing 50+ miles an hour east of Spokane and saw no coal dust leaving the cars.
We're no scientists but we had the coal dust discussion around the office and the consensus was that if it's going to blow off, it's probably going to happen within a few miles of where ever it departs from.
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