Must stop more coal exports

Have you ever thought about what impacts oil and coal trains have on our lives and our environment? The use of oil and coal trains is increasing in Washington and could cause problems, but may create jobs in the local communities. Coal is the Northwest’s largest export and there will be more terminals built in the future. Washington is a major coal exporter to China. This does not make sense because the largest polluting country in the world is China and aren’t we trying to cut down on pollution?

Although building more terminals will create jobs, it will not help the never-ending pollution problem. Coal is flowing through our cities like there is nothing wrong with it, but in reality coal lets off dust and this toxic dust can cause many health issues if breathed in. These trains will increase the chances of people having health problems from the coal dust and getting stuck in traffic from trains more often. We are giving an environmentally damaging substance, coal, to China, and I thought and hope we were trying to cut down on pollution, not build it up. We need to decide if we really want coal going through our cities and building more terminals in the Northwest at all.

Evan Green

Snohomish