Letter: Coal terminal no help to state farms

A Guest Opinion by Randy Mullen, published Sept. 23, 2018, stated our area’s agriculture is being hurt by the state’s action to block the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminal project.

In 2016, the terminal project held a required EPA public hearing in Pasco. I spoke sharing my viewpoints of the impacts of rail car derailments. My views were based on lessons learned working on the Peacekeeper ICBM Rail Garrison Program. Two weeks after I spoke, Union Pacific derailed its oil train on the coal train’s proposed Columbia River route.

Other presenters were concerned about the volume of coal train traffic through Spokane, generating coal dust and causing city traffic gridlock. The proposal base was eight trains per day traveling to Longview. State Rep. Mary Dye shared her concerns that seasonal agriculture shipments from her district would be heavily curtailed; just opposite of the op-ed’s concern. The high coal train volume meant returning rail cars must take a route through Stevens Pass. Where is a potato to go?

The ban on the terminal was only a killer of someone’s idea to piggy-back agriculture shipments on coal’s investment. What were they thinking?