Summer - Northern Plains Resource Council

More documents

Recommendations

Info

$Hydraulic fracturing - Northern Plains Resource Council$

TRR Continued from Page 1 by Northern Plains and Native Action, that the environmental impact statement for the Tongue River Railroad fell short of the law’s requirements, partly because much of the field data was decades old, and partly because much field data had simply never been gathered. Because of this court decision and the numerous changes in the railroad’s proposals, the STB decided to clarify the proposal before it by requiring the TRR to submit a revised application. The TRR has undergone numerous modifications since being proposed in 1980. Those changes have become intertwined in several court cases and changes of plans by the railroad’s promoters. It was originally intended to serve a speculative coal mine in the Ashland area. When that mine never came to be, TRR’s promoters announced a new proposal to haul coal from Wyoming to the main rail line in Montana. Years passed and the railroad was never built. With the plans of St. Louis-based Arch Coal for building Montana’s largest-ever coal mine on Otter Creek southeast of Ashland, the Tongue River Railroad took on a new form. The TRR would now become the first leg in transporting coal from Montana to China and other Asian nations. Northern Plains members facing condemnation along the TRR’s route have fought the plan for more than 30 years. They would be forced to bear a tremendous cost for the benefit of coal and railroad companies and Asian economies that kill American jobs. “My ranch would be cut in half by the proposed Tongue River Railroad,” said Mark Fix, a Tongue River rancher and Past Chair of Northern Plains. “We can only hope that, for the first time in more than 30 years, the Surface Transportation Board will ask some tough Mark Fix questions about whether this railroad will benefit anyone besides Arch Coal and the Chinese industrialists who will burn that coal.” “What we have done is won a voice for Montanans,” said Northern Plains Chair Walter Archer of Powder River County. “We can express our concerns about the effects that industrializing southeastern Montana will have on agriculture and tourism – our two mainstays in the economy that seem to always get overlooked by economic development boosters.” Tongue River rancher and Northern PlainsVice Chair Jeanie Alderson added, “We finally have a chance to ask whether it’s really in America’s interest to ruin good ranchland to build a railroad that will ship coal to China so we can stoke their economic engine.” – Kelsey Miller Land and water Climate scientist: Expect more fires Climate change means two important things for Montana – more fire, and less ice. That was the primary message more than 100 people heard from Nobel laureate Dr. Steve Running at an April event, hosted by the Climate Protection Group and Northern Plains affiliate Carbon County Resource Council. Running was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 along with other members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of 600 researchers from around the world who prepared three systematic reports on climate change. Dr. Running, a forest ecologist, was the sole Montanan on the panel and a chapter author for the report Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Steve Running Running said climate models project that – by 2050 – Montana will be 5 degrees warmer with 10% less precipitation, a particularly significant challenge in parts of the state where water is already in short supply. “The most noteworthy things to watch, though,” said Running, “are the hottest and the coldest days. That’s where the most change happens.” For example, in Missoula, there were 12 days over 100 degrees in July 2007 alone, while there were only a handful of days that hot in the entire decade of the 1950s. Winter days as cold as those of past years are quickly disappearing as well. That may sound comfortable, but it is also a big driver of the pine beetle infestation devastating Montana forests. “Even a few very cold winter nights can be enough to keep larvae in check,” said Running. But without them, populations run rampant. There are Helena Continued from Page 1 Washington and Oregon. It cited concerns that the expanded port capacity would mean a dramatic increase in the number of coal trains traveling through the Helena community every day, increasing ambient air pollution from coal dust and diesel fumes and exacerbating already-stressed infrastructure. It also formally requested that the impacts to Helena be explicitly considered in the permitting decisions. Members of affiliate Sleeping Giant Citizens Council (SGCC) heralded the responsible decision. “A comprehensive review will provide unbiased information, allowing citizens and officials to take a hard look at the social, economic, and environmental ramifications of exporting coal to Asia,” said SGCC Chair Kate French. “Without the review, we would be relying on the promises of out-of-state business owners telling us that these trains will have little to no effect on our community.” Source: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been increasing steadily over the last half century. The yearly dips represent seasonal changes. other problems, too. He showed a chart illustrating August low-flow levels of all major Montana rivers have dropped over the last decades. Among peer-reviewed scientists, there is no controversy regarding man-made climate change; “95 to 97 percent of scientists have agreed for years,” said Running. He said that recently a group of wellfunded, climate skeptic researchers set out to prove past climate scientists wrong by redoing prior models and looking at data from the ground up. Their findings almost identically matched the past studies documenting that climate change is real, serious, and humans are overwhelmingly the leading contributor. Running urged lowering our carbon footprint, by transitioning away from coal and aggressively pursuing energy efficiency. Event organizers distributed a list of things individuals can do to lower their carbon footprint. – Svein Newman SGCC members provided nearly 50 public comments to the commission. Many more members wrote letters and made phone calls. The persistent pressure from Helena residents made the difference in final passage, as the consideration of the letter was met with stiff opposition from the coal and rail industry and a number of industrial trade unions. “Despite the protests from corporate interests that stand to make billions of dollars, this letter is simply an opportunity for Helena residents to participate in the public process regarding the permitting of six connected port decisions that would export coal,” French added. Over the coming months, the campaign will continue to broaden and deepen the coalition in Helena, Missoula, and other communities along the route and will give residents more opportunities to be involved. – Clayton Elliott The Plains Truth Summer 2012 Page 4
What would you do if 40-50 additional coal trains were cutting through your community every day? That’s the question Northern Plains has posed to Montanans since the beginning of 2012. Powder River Basin and Bull Mountains coal for overseas export currently is sent by rail to British Columbia. Most of the coal trains follow a circuitous route through Montana, northern Idaho, then southwest to Spokane, the Columbia River Gorge (the lowest pass through the Cascades) to Vancouver, Washington. From there they head north through the heavily populated areas of Tacoma, Seattle, and Bellingham to Vancouver, B.C. Current ports in Oregon and Washington aren’t deep enough or big enough to handle the huge oceangoing coal ships. Six coal ports are proposed, and some are beginning the permitting process. A 12-fold increase If all six ports were developed, coal companies plan to export up to 170 million tons of coal through West Coast ports, and 50 additional trains per day could become a reality in Billings (slightly lower numbers in other communities, depending on the routes that carry the most coal). This increase will take place over the next 10 years if the plans of coal companies and railroads materialize for shipping huge volumes of Western coal to Asia. Obviously, this increase in coal train traffic could have great impacts on day-to-day life in communities bisected by railroad tracks, and could reduce property values, interfere with local business, hamper the movement of ambulances and fire trucks, and reduce air quality for people who live near the tracks (not to mention people who have to wait repeatedly at railroad crossings). Unless something changes, the coal and railroad companies could get away with imposing these costs on Montana communities. Solutions to relieve these problems are expensive, and local communities could get stuck with major tax burdens. For Land and water Montanans seek answers about coal trains, exports What you can do If you want to get involved in our work on coal exports, please call Natalie at 406-248-1154. example, Billings implemented a quiet zone to stop the train horns blaring in downtown. The upgrades to the crossings for this quiet zone cost $1.5 million and were paid for by taxpayers. Montana Rail Link has repeatedly said that paying for overpasses is “not an expense the railroad company typically covers.” In order to get the message out, Northern Plains and our allies have hosted informational meetings in Billings, Missoula, Helena, Bozeman, and Columbus, so far. More than 500 people have attended these meetings. The question raised in town after town is, “What can we do to make sure our communities aren’t stuck with the costs and impacts of dozens of additional coal trains every day?” Northern Plains, along with groups from Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, is asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (which would BNSF scrubs its website of coal dust There are many health, safety, logistics, climate, and ethical problems with coal and coal trains. One problem – coal dust – BNSF Railway addressed on its website as late as March of 2011. The information has since been removed. At YVCC's Community Coal Export Conversation in March, a BNSF representative said the company has attempted to make coal companies pay for coal dust treatment. Citizens are depending on the rail and coal companies to own up to addressing the problem. Here is what the website used to say: Source: Sightline Institute report, Coal Exports from Canada (July 2012) Coal Dust Frequently Asked Questions “The amount of coal dust that escapes from PRB [Powder River Basin] coal trains is surprisingly large. While the amount of coal dust that escapes from a particular coal car depends on a number of factors, including the weather, BNSF has done studies indicating that from 500 lbs to a ton of coal can escape from a single loaded coal car. Other reports have indicated that as much as 3% of the coal loaded into a coal car can be lost in transit. In many areas, a thick layer of black coal dust can be observed along the railroad right of way and in between the tracks. Given the high volume of loaded coal trains that move each day in the PRB, large amounts of coal dust accumulate rapidly along the PRB rail lines. “In May 2005, there were two signifi cant derailments of coal trains in the PRB within a short period of time, resulting in signifi cant disruption in service and congestion. BNSF determined that the derailments resulted from weakened track structure caused primarily by a combination of coal dust and high levels of rainfall along with other factors….” have to approve shoreline permits for most of the new and expanded coal ports) to study the community impacts of 50 additional trains per day crossing Montana to deliver coal to those ports. Area-wide study If the coal companies had their way, the bigger picture would never be studied and Montana would begin seeing an increase in coal train traffic without any serious study. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said it will not do a “programmatic” environmental impact statement (EIS) at this point but will instead do an “area-wide” EIS. The difference appears to be mere semantics, and Montana still has the opportunity have a voice in the process. But the clock is ticking. The Cherry Point port (Gateway Pacific) proposed at Bellingham, Washington, (north of Seattle) has hired a contractor to begin the scoping process. The geographic area to be studied could be decided any day now. In the meantime, the city governments of Missoula and Helena have requested to be included in any of the decisions being made on the port (see article on Page 1), and we are working to make sure other cities have a say as well. This early stage is when it’s critical that we make our voices heard. Every community along the rail tracks, small or large, will be impacted by this coal export proposal. It’s time we made sure that we don’t get stuck with the impacts and costs. – Becca Fischer The Plains Truth Summer 2012 Page 5
Page 1 and 2: For 40 Years Protecting Montana’s
Page 3: people of the plains Commitment to
Page 7 and 8: land and water Momentum builds for
Page 9 and 10: ng montana’s future es mining pol
Page 11 and 12: 2012 Election Vote No on Referendu
Page 13 and 14: Much work remains on Farm Bill: Big
Page 15 and 16: council roundup GNA members study l

Summer - Northern Plains Resource Council

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?