As most of you know there are three agencies that will decide the fate of the Gateway Pacific Coal Terminal at Cherry Point: the Army Corps of Engineers, the State of Washington and the Whatcom County Council.
Whatcom County is also the permitting entity for the project. Who sits on that Council will decide the fate of the islands and perhaps, through increased CO2 emissions in China, the world.
I have included a link that will give you more information about what’s at stake and about one candidate with a history of environmental caring, Carl Weimer. He has been on the Council for 8 years and his win is key to protecting the waters of the San Juans from Capesize ships and their threat of both on-going pollution of many kinds and the potential for large fuel spills in the case of an accident.
A large number of your fellow Islanders have been working for the last 1 1/2 years to oppose Gateway Pacific and it’s mega-ships. There will be a lot of money spent by representatives of the coal companies, Goldman Sachs and BNSF railroad (owned by Warren Buffet).
Please go the the link. Consider donating to Carl’s campaign. He will be fighting not just to preserve Whatcom County but the Islands as well: website link: https://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=dd79c857741ac52420c8e7350&id=c36d597da5&e=48fe2c6413
Barbara Keller, Member Lopez NoCOALition
I believe that China has an insatiable hunger and overwhelming demand for coal..whether it is shipped from Canada or Washington state does not matter to them…I believe that we in the United States have invested a great deal of resources in to our Coast Guard..I believe our coastGuard is much better equipped and established as an effective policing agency than its equivalent in Canada.
Given that we can not control the sale of coal or its export from the United States to China..from whatever west coast port they choose…..WHO is better equipped to police it’s transportation from the west coast…who is better empowered to police ecological standards and strict regulations re maritime safety and inspection.
The U S Coastguard ? Or the Canadian Coastguard ?
It’s unlikely these terminals will ever be built, as China’s coal demand is peaking. Thank goodness!
https://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/09/19/analyst-shift-in-china-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-coal/
We should definitely keep up the pressure, but I am much more concerned about the potential of an oil spill, especially with fracked oil from the Bakken and Canadian tar sands now part of the mix.
China announced today it’s goal of reducing coal consumption to 65 percent of current usage and new building of coal fired plants will be banned around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/13/china-smog/2809669/
I agree with Mr. Ayer. IF these terminals are going to get built here or in Canada, I would much prefer that the jobs go to Americans, and that the regulatory agencies and marine patrols be ours as well. We tend to have much stronger environmental awareness and controls.
[Grumpy Copy Editor Alert: “It’s” means “it is”. The possessive of “it” is “its” — no apostrophe. Why did so many people not learn this?]
Because, Grumpy Copy Editor, autocorrect changes its to it’s when you’re not looking.
Ah, that explains it. Educated people learned it, but grammatically undereducated people wrote the autocorrect program. Insidious.
Are the other candidates for the Commission environmentally “uncaring”? This issue seems to be one in which local county commissioners have very little to say.