Coal trains will cause irreversible damages

I oppose coal trains moving through Washington state to our ports and any development to support this polluting industry [“Letters signed to construct barges for coal export,” seattletimes.com, July 28].

The proposed coal trains coming from Montana and Wyoming to Washington state ports, carrying some 150 million tons of coal a year, would create irreversible local and global damages.

The dirty coal is destined for China and will come back to us as toxic air, acid rain and climate chaos. Take a look at wasteland created by big coal in Appalachia. The Pacific Northwest’s environment, cities and people are poised to be sacrificed to coal mining and become a neocolonial extraction economy.

This pillaging of the public commons for the short-term profit of multinational mining corporations will leave us with the bill while Big Coal takes the cash. Big Coal is trying to sell us out with a “thousands of jobs” enticement. We’ll be left with black lungs, a poisoned environment and the costs of mitigation and cleanup.

These costs are simply too high.

— Linda Boyd, Clyde Hill