The Alliance for Northwest Jobs and Exports said in a release on Friday that “recent efforts to fan concern about alleged health impacts from an increase in railway traffic defy logic and misrepresent the facts”
The alliance said that it felt it needed to set the record straight to prevent potential “misunderstandings that could jeopardize thousands of good, family-wage jobs and millions of dollars in revenue that the new bulk terminals would bring to the Northwest”
One in four jobs in the region is reliant on trade, the release said.
Members of the alliance include Arch Coal, Association of Washington Business, BNSF Railway, International Trade Alliance, Peabody Energy and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – Northwest Region among others.
The release said that the City of Seattle was expected to announce next week that it had initiated a health impact study and would reach out to other local governments for financial contributions to cover the study’s estimated $300,000 cost.
“We believe this study is unnecessary and that there are better uses for taxpayer dollars,” said a spokeswoman for the alliance, Lauri Hennessey.
“And, if this study moves forward, we hope it is conducted in a manner long prized in the Northwest, using objective academic experts, in the public eye, and with full peer review.”
The four ports pursuing coal exports are Cherry Point and Longview in Washington, and St Helens and Morrow in Oregon.
They have received serious opposition from environmental groups who argue that burning coal is bad for global warming, and that coal dust from trains traveling to the port can have adverse health effects on local communities.
The release from the alliance quotes Roger McClellan , a toxicologist and former chairman of the National Academy of Sciences committee on toxicology, who was recently quoted by Associated Press.
"As an expert in toxicology who has worked with EPA, other federal and state agencies, and private industry on human health risks over my 50 year career, I can tell you that the mere presence of coal by a railroad track or in the water is not a health hazard,” McClellan said.
“Coal has been used for home heating and industrial use in WA state and across the US for centuries. Coal has been traveling through the Northwest by rail for over 40 years.
“Claiming that finding a piece of coal on the ground or in the water leads to a health or environment risk violates one of the basic tenets of toxicology. Any decision on exports of coal needs to be driven by scientific facts and analysis. It is irresponsible to release exaggerated claims and mislead the public and regulators about the impact of moving coal."
The alliance claim that trains carrying coal have moved through the region for decades and have never caused a problem.
“In all this time, the Northwest Clean Air Agency, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, and Spokane Clean Air Agency have not received a single complaint related to coal dust blowing from trains,” it said.
