The Dirt On Coal
In light of Thursday's "Coal Hard Truth" forum, I'm going to be posting about coal a lot, so get ready. First, check Sightline's excellent coal export FAQ. 
As North America’s appetite for coal wanes, coal companies are looking to China and other Asian markets to sell US-mined coal. Yet before large volumes of coal can be exported overseas, new shipping terminals would need to be built at port sites in the Northwest. In a new fact-finding report, Sightline examines the potential benefits and potential risks of coal export facilities.
It will help answer the common questions for exporting coal such as:
Why care about coal exports?
What export proposals are on the table?
Isn't it good for our economy to export coal?
Are coal terminals good neighbors?
Also, check out Sightline's new research project called "The Dirt On Coal."
Here in the Northwest, coal feels like someone else’s problem. We know that much of the electricity that powers our homes comes from carbon-free hydropower, which can make flipping a light switch feel almost virtuous. But the numbers tell a different story: coal is big in the Northwest. In this series, Sightline researchers look at the region’s real reliance on coal and examine how we can get ourselves off the dirtiest of fuels.
This is a great going series and Monday's post was very relevant to Thursday's event: How coal is already congesting Washington's railways.
After outlining the congestion from the shipments near Puget Sound they conclude:
...even if we removed every single freight and passenger train—and we did nothing but serve Cherry Point—those shipments alone would swamp the northern portion of the state’s rail system.
To be sure, rail congestion is a fixable problem, at least to an extent. There are a number of infrastructure and technology improvements that would boost capacity in the system. The catch, however, is that these improvements tend to be costly, and majority of them are likely to get billed to the public. In fact, as we’ll explore in some follow-up posts, there is good reason to worry that taxpayers—not BNSF and not the coal companies—will be asked to expand the state’s railway system to make way for coal.
In the meantime, the biggest loser may be the region’s long-sought high speed rail service. Unless taxpayers are prepared to open their wallets again, it could well turn out that reliable passenger rail in the Northwest will run into the brick wall of Asia-bound coal.
The impacts will be felt everywhere including agriculture shipments in eastern Washington. What do you think a 50% increase in the amount of trains through Spokane will do to traffic?
130 million tons of coal annually, 30 to 60 trains per day, each train over a mile long, each train loaded with 15,000 tons of coal. All coming through Spokane. Find out more on Thursday evening at the Lincoln Center.
