Coal exports: Corporate profit before human and environmental health

In the wake of declining coal consumption in the U.S., energy companies plan to increase profits by shipping Powder River Basin coal, purchased cheaply from public land, through the Pacific Northwest to China and India. Proposals call for up to 150 million tons of coal/yr transported by barges and up to 26 trains/day, each train over 100 cars (1 mile) long and powered by 4 diesel engines. There are myriad, severe health and environmental consequences of coal extraction, transport, and burning in power plants. These include the risks to workers; exposure of citizens to diesel particulate matter, coal dust, and noise; frequent long train crossings which will delay emergency medical response vehicles; accidents; increased air pollution and ground level ozone; release of neurotoxic/fetotoxic mercury into the air; and exacerbation of global warming.

Coal is a dying 19th Century technology with Dickensian effects on human health and the environment. To counter corporate efforts to internalize profits from coal, while externalizing health and environmental costs, a coalition of health care professionals, scientists, environmentalists, urban gardeners, educators, students, and concerned citizens has been working to stop companies from using the Pacific Northwest as America's coal chute to Asia, while advocating for an energy policy for the 21st century, using clean technologies that would provide long-term, well-paying, and safe jobs. Their actions provide a model for activists involved in similar activities involving other threats to health and well-being.