Dirty Coal Business Threatens Bellingham's Green Values

Bellingham is now the home for 81,000 inhabitants who share eco-friendly values and a great concern towards sustainability. Their lifestyle could experience radical changes since authorities think about the possibility of turning the town into a new coal terminal.

Local people are worried about the risk factors implied by such a transformation. It is known that coal is one of the natural resources which has the most damaging effects upon the environment.

Coal is a significant source of CO2 emissions, therefore the decision of opening a terminal generated a controversy among Bellingham's inhabitants.

“It's almost inconceivable that there would be a plan afoot to change this part of the world to a coal export facility. It seems ironic or cruel, or misguided at best,” stated Julie Trimingham, one of the community's activists.

The local people manifest their fear regarding the fact that coal dust can fly off the open conveyor and reach into the sea, where it is likely to influence the life of marine flora and fauna in a negative way.

The members of the community located 35 miles across the border in Bellingham, Washington are well aware of the risks involved in the coal industry. The mining, the handling and the burning represent three different processes in which coal usage can threaten their safety and wellbeing.

The list of disadvantages doesn't end here. Inhabitants are also worried about the fact that opening a coal terminal in their town could increase the train traffic in their region.

"There would be a train on the tracks at least once every hour, day and night. So there's the noise and the pollution. The diesel particulate matter. And we're not sure how the intensified rail usage would affect the businesses on the wrong side of the tracks or close to the tracks," added Trimingham.

Some voices would say that the situation isn't as catastrophic as most local people would tend to paint it, since coal has been a source of profit for many years in their region.

Not far from the place where activists live, coal was mined and delivered to power plants in the past.

On the other side, the benefits implied by transforming the town into coal terminal are quite visible. It would help the local economy a great deal, by creating several new jobs.

But the mayor says it is time for Bellingham to put the past behind and bury its industrial roots.

"There are some folks advocating for it because, like a lot of communities, we really could use good jobs, but we've also built a reputation over the past few decades as a place that values sustainability. And there are few things that are as anti-sustainability as coal is," affirmed Bellingham's mayor, Dan Pike.

While he is focusing on attracting tourists with several new strategies, Pike fears that trains which transport coal will put them on the run.