Global mining companies are pushing to export coal to China through Northwest ports.
Global mining companies are pushing to export coal to China through Northwest ports.
Environmentalists are opposed, citing it as a step backward while Oregon is shutting its only coal-fired electricity plant and reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Peabody Energy, “Coal’s best days are ahead,” fueled in part by exports of coal from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming that Portland General Electric taps for its Boardman plant. Peabody says it hopes to announce a West Coast terminal by year’s end.
Coal is the dirtiest fuel available, says Brett VandenHeuvel, Columbia Riverkeeper’s executive director. Global warming isn’t limited by geography. Mercury from coal burning in China travels on trade winds to the Northwest. “Before we blindly start shipping coal, we need to think about what’s coming back to our shores,” VandenHeuvel says.
Read more at OregonLive.com.
{biztweet}oregon coal{/biztweet}
