Bellingham Comments from Digital Recorder - EISs for the Proposed ...

GATEWAY PACIFIC TERMINAL EIS SCOPING HEARING VOL. I
COURT REPORTER: GWEN BRASS PROCEEDING DATE: October 27, 2012
Page 28
communities, will balance my potential losses.
MS. HULL: Next speaker.
But I want to take a second to remind everybody about
the ground rules for this room since a lot of you folks came
in. I want to remind you the speaker has two minutes and ask
you folks to stay entirely quiet during the speakers, and if
you want to raise your hand. And it's really important to
speak directly into the microphone.
THE SPEAKER: What, speak into the mic? Thank you.
Can you hear me?
My name is Dave Hopkinson. I live in Bellingham. My
concern is the impact of coal trains on the derailment. The
number of derailments seems to be increasing. I guess we could
do a study. Does that have something to do with the fact that
we're shipping more coal.
My wife and I take the Amtrak to Portland to visit our
daughter. Along Chuckanut Drive the rail line is hemmed in.
On one side it's a steep slope, and on the other side there's
water. The track below Chuckanut Drive should be considered a
high risk area for derailment. I'm asking you to look and see
whether there are other highways where these coal trains are
going to go.
Coal trains are physical stress because they're
heavier, they cause vibration, coal dust blocks drainage,
making the rail beds get squishy.