Comment EI-19618
Received or sent (printed as 1/8/2013)
This is in regard to the application for the rail line for the Tongue River Railroad. Because of the last minute change and new proposed route, please open a new comment period and hold a hearing in Colstrip. The health and environmental cost of the coal being transported on this railroad must be considered in the application. Please study: the pollution and health hazards caused by mining, transporting and eventual burning of the coal in the Otter Creek Coal mine. Please determine the potential for both everyday and catastrophic spills into watersheds, the ocean and the air. Please compare these pollution levels to alternative fuels available to Asian markets. Please consider how long it will be economically viable to operate a coal mine an ocean away from its destination, given rising prices of fuel. Please compare the income to the government of taxes on this operation, to the expenses caused by rising health care costs, costs of cleanup, costs due to climate change and ocean acidification. If this mine is permitted to expand, please ensure that the coal dust is contained during the entire extraction and transportation process, and that the company has an escrow account sufficient to pay for cleanup of spills and claims of damage to human health. Please consult scientific research on coal in academic journals, for example in Science" in determining the cost-benefit to society of using coal. Please ensure that the company has the trained personnel and equipment available on site to immediately deal with spills. Coal is an outdated fuel source, and we should know better than to release this poison into our air, water and soil."
Submitted by: Mary Ferm
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-30186/comment/EI-19618 · back to the docket sheet