Coal Trains - Where are they Going? Why Do We Care? Part 3

Many of us care because:
- It will cost the taxpayers money.
- It will cause damage to the environment in the Cherry Point area - including damage to the marine.
- It will dramatically increase railroad traffic in this state and numerous bridges, crossings etc. will have to be built, repaired, replaced, upgraded - most at taxpayer expense.
- The actual net jobs in Whatcom County could decline and actual costs could increase dramatically to the taxpayer.

In 2008 a bill was introduced into the legislature by a local State Senator that would have all of the taxes generated by a super port go directly for paying the infrastructure costs of roads, spur lines, sewer and water mitigation, emergency services and environmental mitigation costs. Senate Bill 6616.

It did not make it out of committee - that time.

So you have to ask yourself.... if it is going to cost taxpayers money, if it is not good for the environment, if net jobs could be a loss, if it could create health issues for children and the large population of retirees nearby, if additional damage could happen in the Salish Sea by the additional hundreds of ships,
if property values decline why would we want to do this?

Especially if they, the Port of Vancouver have already looked at expansion at Roberts Bank and other areas that could meet increased requirements by overseas markets.

And then there is the whole issue of strategic defense of the United States - why does our generation have the right to deplete coal reserves that may be required in a hundred years - when technology may have caught up and dramatically reduced or eliminated the whole issue of the massive carbon footprint of burning coal for energy requirements.

And then there is the moral issue...............

all photographs copyright 2011 by Paul K. Anderson  please click on any photo to enlarge.