The Leadership Alliance Against Coal now has 40 members representing cities, counties and tribes from across Washington and Oregon. We have all agreed that the proposal to export coal from Western Washington presents unacceptable impacts to our communities. I would like to thank all of the leaders who are taking a stand to protect their communities. In particular, I’d like to express my gratitude to my colleagues on the Seattle City Council who are joining me in opposing 18 mile-and-a- half long trains per day from disrupting traffic and damaging our environment and economy here in Seattle. Thank you Tim Burgess, Sally Bagshaw, Richard Conlin, Nick Licata and Mike O’Brien.
Coal export will have damaging local economic, cultural, and health impacts. The numbers also show that Northwest coal exports could generate more carbon emissions that the Keystone XL pipeline. I’m concerned this will exacerbate global climate change and impact our region with changing weather patterns, rising sea level and more destructive storms. Together with the other members of the Alliance, my City Council colleagues and I will work to raise awareness about these damaging impacts and call on the regulatory agencies to deny the permits for Northwest coal terminals.
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