The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

The thought that a few coal trains may roll through Oregon to one or more new coal export facilities on the Columbia River and/or Coos Bay throws the usual suspects into a tizzy.  You may have seen the letters to the editor proclaiming all the maladies that will afflict us if this happens. I say - "Bunk!"

This is an aerial shot of the Lambert's Point coal export facility in Norfolk, Virginia. It is the largest in the world.This facility exports coal in quantities that far exceed anything even dreamt of for the Columbia or Coos Bay. Dozens of trains move in and out of Lambert's Point every day. My wife's sister and her family lived just a few blocks north of Lambert's Point for 30 years with no ill effects. Their neighborhood was and is one of the more desirable areas of Norfolk. People are not dying of black lung in Norfolk, hollow-eyed children racked by coughing fits do not stare pitifully at you as you drive by. Indeed, this facility has helped the Norfolk area buck the national economic malaise because nations around the world still want to buy our coal. 

The Chicken Little stuff is getting real old. It is just bunk and it's about time that Oregonians recognize it for what it is and ignore these phony Jeremiahs. A few more trains per day may cause a slight inconvenience, but if the economy ever improves it could just as easily be freight trains with lumber - although come to think of it they will try to block those too. If Oregon ever wants to be anything other than an economic backwater, we are going to have to ignore these phony "doom and gloomers" and get back to business so that our children and grandchildren can afford to live in Oregon.