The Edmonds City Council has taken a stand against coal trains based on both environmental concerns and the length of trains.

Council President Strom Peterson said last week that trains could halt traffic between downtown Edmonds and the city’s waterfront for three to four minutes at a time,

He said that such a traffic delay could keep fire trucks from reaching the Edmonds Senior Center, the Edmonds boat-launching area, and waterfront restaurants, motels and other businesses.

Peterson said the council has twice passed resolutions against the proposal to run coal trains from the East and Midwest to Puget Sound and north to Bellingham.

The council passed a resolution in November, during the last weeks that Mike Cooper was mayor, noting that Edmonds could have traffic delays from as many as 18 trains per day and that each train posed potential environmental danger from derailment.

Another resolution specifically opposed construction of the proposed Gateway Terminal near the Cherry Point area of Bellingham.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.