PSPX Wrote:
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He also claims in his editorial
> that people of Spokane have higher cancer rates
> from breathing locomotive exhaust, but makes no
> mention of all the big rigs on I-90 that pollute
> far more----pollution that would be greatly
> reduced by moving those trucks by train.

Unless the coal would also be moved by trucks (I don't think that is the plan), your point is irrelevant. Do you know for sure that the railroad have unlimited capacity to accommodate both more coal traffic and high-value freight traffic? If not, then operating more coal trains on the line limits the ability of the railroad to attract high-value freight.

Maybe it's different from BNSF in the Pacific Northwest, but a Trains Magazine article published in the mid-2000s, stated that US haul about 40% of the ton-miles, but only 5% of the value of freight in the US. If you were genuinely interested in reducing the amount of pollution from trucks, you would support strategies to divert traffic from trucks to rails as there is a huge market for the railroads to capture.

If the
> anti-coal people are representative of the
> accuracy of enviromental information then I have
> no faith at all in the enviromental movement any
> more.

When:

Peer-reviewed research conducted by plant & wildlife biologists show no long-term impacts to flora and fauna due to the mountain-top removal method of coal mining in Appalachia*

and

When the medical community stops advising people to limit the amount of fish they eat due to mercury contamination in fish

and

When the American Heart Association retracts the following report linking particulate pollution (which is associated with burning of coal - this is not a low sulfur vs. high sulfur issue) with negative consequences for health

[www.brightsurf.com]

Then, perhaps I will agree with your assessment of coal critics.

*Yes, I realize the coal in this case is not coming from points east of the Mississippi, but the mountain top method of coal mining is causing intense damage to some of America's most ecologically diverse areas.