NW governors ask White House to exam coal exports

March 25, 2013 @ 5:34 pm

SEATTLE (AP) - The governors of Washington and Oregon are urging the White House to evaluate the effects of greenhouse gasses that would be emitted elsewhere if the nation's coal is exported.

In a joint letter sent Monday to the President's Council on Environmental Quality, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber called on the federal government to examine the consequences on global air quality if five coal export terminals proposed in Washington and Oregon ship up to 140 million tons of coal a year from Montana and Wyoming's Powder River basin to hungry markets in Asia.

Given that coal exports from the Northwest could result in 240 million tons per year of carbon dioxide emissions, the Democratic governors wrote, "it is hard to conceive that the federal government would ignore the inevitable consequences of coal leasing and coal export."

"We believe the decisions to continue and expand coal leasing from federal lands and authorize the export of that coal are likely to lead to long-term investments in coal generation in Asia, with air quality and climate impacts in the United States that dwarf almost any other action the federal government could take in the foreseeable future," they wrote.

The governors said that the U.S. is poised to become a significant supplier of coal to Asia, and they noted that coal is a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions. They worried that increase greenhouse gas emissions from burning of coal are causing environmental and health costs in the U.S. and around the world.

Kitzhaber has previously asked federal officials to study the environmental impacts of mining coal in Montana and Wyoming, shipping it to the West Coast and burning it in Asia.

Former Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat whom Inslee replaced in January, had declined to take a position on coal exports, saying she wanted the regulatory process to play out.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing three projects, including one in Oregon at Port of Morrow in Boardman, and two in Washington in Longview and north of Bellingham. No final decisions have been made on related state permits for these terminals, the governors noted in their letter.

Proponents of the projects say they will create jobs and generate millions in tax revenues.

Lauri Hennessey, a spokeswoman for Alliance for Northwest Jobs & Exports, which includes U.S. coal producers, noted that the U.S. Senate voted last week to oppose new requirements that federal agencies consider greenhouse gas emissions in their analysis under federal environmental law.

"This requirement would be particularly damaging in the Northwest where trade and export are vital to the economy and support good family-wage jobs," she said.

Project opponents want regulators to study the broader effects of the projects, including increased train traffic, carbon emissions from burning coal overseas and other health and environmental concerns.

"Coal export would harm our air, water, and climate so it makes sense to evaluate the impacts," Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper said in a statement Monday.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (12)


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  • maplefish wrote...
    Enviro-Nazis
    December 13, 2012 3:21 pm
    Jobs for families are at stake here you idiots. Those jobs Crete tax revenue so ll you losers can keep your welfare checks. Be careful what you bittch about morons.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • karen8944 wrote...
    The Coal Issue
    December 13, 2012 6:07 pm
    I have been a Washingtonian my entire life, I am 65 years young, we grew up in the White Center Heights Projeccts homes for the first part of my young life, that was when there was no hot water, a wood burning stove, and one coal burning stove to heat the entire house, we had an electric thing that we plugged into the wall we put it into the bath water to heat the water, my mom would get up in the morning around 5 AM to start the coal burner so we could have heat, I am still alive and doing well, apparently the coal did not harm any of us, so let the Coal Trains Roll, our state needs the jobs, we need to help do whatever to fix the economy, so people can live and take care of their families!!!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    mapleboy
    December 13, 2012 7:27 pm
    I agree with the jobs aspect of your post, but you continue to criticize the welfare recipients. Certainly there is corruption in the welfare system, just as there is in higher levels of Govt. halliburton comes to mind, the republican war machine, no bid provider of goods and machinery that most of the republicans are large investors in. Please put your spell check back in order, it's difficult to take a poster seriously that spells worse than my grandkids.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    longway
    December 13, 2012 9:24 pm
    Maple is big on name calling: morons, losers, idiots. The sign of a pretty insecure guy. I expect him to respond to that by saying: "Why would I be insecure when I am wealthy and have everything I could possibly want." He's not a happy camper. He names calls a lot and has real problems with people that don't see the world his way. He has from time to time shown some signs of being cordial, but the name calling is very prevalent in many of his posts.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Wrongway
    December 13, 2012 9:25 pm
    It's your messiah Brak Obama that encourages the Welfare state. You know it & so does anyone with half a brain. When your leader & his administration continues to promote and encourage his constituents to get food stamps & welfare rather than find gainful employment along with class warfare rhetoric, this is what you get. And if all you have to attack my point of view is my iPad's spell check, well you are even more of a chickenshit than I thought. You are a pissant Obama loser...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    Maple
    December 13, 2012 9:51 pm
    There you go again!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Forrest wrote...
    Exporting coal is a no brainer
    January 21, 2013 9:04 am
    We owe China lots of money, we need jobs and we don't use the coal ourselves.

    As far as blathering about welfare for the poor. Let's stop corporate welfare too. You righties would have more credibility if you railed against corporate welfare like you do against welfare for the sick. f you want examples of corporate welfare here are four off the top of my head. Import/export bank, oil and gas subsidies for the energy sector, farm subsidies for corporate farmers, GE makes 8 billion in profit and pays zero taxes. Those four alone dwarf what is payed out to the poor.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • 509 wrote...
    Don't forget Boeing!! They don't pay Fedral OR Washington state taxes!!!!
    March 25, 2013 3:09 pm
    As for global warming.....jet flights account for 40 percent tof global warming effects. When Inslee starts talking about this I will start paying attention to him. Otherwise forget it. Posted by a conservative looking for REAL CHANGE.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Idiots leading idiots
    March 25, 2013 3:39 pm
    First obvious point is that Idaho (Republican Governor)is also in the "Northwest" and the shipments go through it too. Second is how comically duped the left is over this issue. Oregon spent millions to help build an ethanol plant on the Columbia that went TU & bankrupt months after it opened. (Green-energy boondoggle) The site has now been converted to handle massive unit trains of CRUDE OIL coming from Canada and N Dakota to ports across the pacific (there not putting it back into the ground either). Lastly, the "issue" of coal dust is a total straw-man as the product is coated with a sealant for rail shipment. Coal is a rock, and it's not some radioactive material like these environmental Bozo's are making it. What's really at play is a shakedown for money to politicians. It's just complicated with the Chinese in play. That's what these governors are really after.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    and p.s.
    March 25, 2013 3:45 pm
    Nobody knows how to launder Chinese money through American politics than these two Governors President. Thus the letter.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Wow!
    March 25, 2013 4:11 pm
    The Hope & Change censors are quick! Took this one right off the main page & hid it after that response.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Mavila wrote...
    Rangerhawk, in case you haven't figured it out yet...
    March 25, 2013 6:55 pm
    this is not what you would call a hard news web site. They're not really interested in facts if it's not related to the police blotter types of stuff.

    It has some hard news, but it's mostly special features with some commentary.

    Mostly, it's an amalgam of liberal BS. But, thanks for your post as it's always nice to have someone with some facts counter the nonsense.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }