Coal Terminal Notes: PR Battle on Particulates

Plume of smoke from ship heading out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca

While heading across the entrance to Puget Sound on the Keystone to Port Townsend Ferry run I noted a plume of exhaust smoke from a ship heading out to sea. I had seen the same ship a bit closer earlier in the day - a container ship heading out of Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and Marrowstone Island. The ship had previously been docked at either Tacoma or Seattle. 

The plume of exhaust smoke from the ship caused me to wonder how the analysis of air quality will play out out for the proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point. A group of doctors in the Bellingham area want a health assessment done on the air quality impacts from increased diesel exhaust from the increased train and ship traffic whatcom-county-doctors-want-study. I noted three issues in the response of the coal terminal spokesman in the article.

First it was clear that he was well versed in the particulate emissions in Whatcom County. He noted that locomotive exhaust makes up only 0.6% of particulate pollution and wood stoves result in 35% of the particulate pollution. He pointed out that reducing wood smoke emissions by only 2% would equal all the locomotive emissions. One could jump on that as a way of mitigating the locomotive emissions. But he did not make that suggestion. 

The second thing I noted in the spokesman's statements was he spoke of locomotive emissions and made no mention of the particulate emissions from the huge ships that would carry the coal away. Given the plume from the ship I saw the other day pictured above, this is no small issue. 

The third issue was that when talking about Whatcom County particulate emissions, the coal terminal spokesman was referring to the particulate emissions for the entire county. The point of the Whatcom County doctors concerns is that the diesel particulate emissions will be concentrated through urban areas where more trains pass through than before. So the total emissions county wide may not be significantly impacted but the doctors want to see a more focused analysis along the very areas where the emissions will be taking place. 

While much of the focus on air quality has revolved around the trains, I suspect that the ship emissions will not be a minor issue. Large transport ships can be a huge point source for air emissions. The City of Seattle requires cruise ships that call on the port to hook up to the city electric grid because of the emissions from the ships generators was so high. 

For the Cherry Point area, frequent ship traffic combined with the train locomotives will add to the air emissions already generated from the oil refineries located at the site. At this point in time, the air quality in the air shed of the Cherry Point area is good. This is in no small part been accomplished by maintaining modern oil refinery facilities including numerous upgrades. A careful analyses of the impacts of very frequent coal transport ships on the local air shed will be interesting. If the coal ships combined with the frequent locomotive traffic push the area into non attainment, the regulations will clamp down harder on all facilities in the area including the refineries. Already one of the largest if not the largest particulate emission source associated with the refineries is the pollution associated with the oil tankers that call at the two refinery piers as well as at the aluminum plant pier. And based on preliminary information the coal terminal will have much greater ship traffic.  

My final thought is that clearly the coal terminal has lost the PR war. It hardly even matters what they say at this point. If there is any PR battle left it is the silly arguments among local politicians, one of whom seems to be running for head cheer leader of the coal terminal opposition.   

Digitalis

Digitalis

Multiple stalks of digitalis in a clear cut

During July and August, tall stalks of digitalis bloom. These common bright flower stalks are biennials - that is they take two years to grow and then bloom. They vary in color with light purple being the most common, but white is common and we had one in our yard that was peach colored. I like the ones with little dots on the lower side of the flower. They seem to be calling bees to walk on in along the dots.

The name digitalis is in reference to the fact the flowers are just the right size to fit your digits into. Its common name is fox glove, but I have always referred to it as digitalis. It not a flower you should bring into your home or have in your yard with toddlers that like chomping plants. They are very toxic. They also are used to extract medicines for heart treatment.

These plants are amazing in their ability to pioneer disturbed ground and are very good at getting their seeds to spread. They are common along the roads and in clear cuts.

Digitalis flower stalks in a clear cut area with erratic rock placed on top of a stump.

$2 Trillion or 8%

Nothing to do with the Washington landscape, but S&P rating no longer has meaning. This should be the only story about the rating fiasco. They made a $2 trillion mistake and are sticking to their guns. In the mean time investors are investing in the newly down graded U.S. T Bills lowering the U.S. rates.

They were off by 8%

S&P downgrades and money floods into long term U.S. Bonds lowering interest rates which were already low.

Sam Crawford Proposes Supporting National Conservation Area Designation for BLM Lands in Whatcom County

Map showing locations of Chuckanut Rock, Lummi Rocks and Carter Point

Back in May I did a write up on the proposed Nation Conservation Area (NCA) for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcels scattered around the San Juan Islands national-conservation-area-and-san-juan. San Juan County leaders are very supportive and passed a unanimous resolution in support of the San Juan NCA and both Washington State U.S. Senators Murray and Cantwell and U.S. Congressman Larson have spoken in support. The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, Ken Salazar, has directed BLM staff to begin working on the plans for how the San Juan NCA would be managed. NCAs have a fair bit of local input in how they are managed.

At the time I wrote about the potential San Juan NCA, I noted that perhaps it would make sense to include three small BLM parcels in Whatcom County as part of the NCA. The three sites are Chuckanut Rock, Lummi Rocks and Carter Point located at the southern tip of Lummi Island. Next Tuesday the Whatcom County Council will be considering a Resolution proposed by Council Member Sam Crawford supporting the NCA designation and adding Chuckanut Rock, Lummis Rocks and Carter Point in Whatcom County to the proposed San Juan Islands NCA http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/council/revisions/2011/revisionone0809.pdf.

Carter Point at the southern tip of Lummi Island

Chuckanut Rock in Chuckanut Bay south of Bellingham

Lummi Rocks of the west shore of Lummi Island

The designation makes sense and is consistent with Washington State Department of natural Resorces Natural Resource Conservation Areas on Lummi Island, United States National Wildlife Area designations on nearby rocks, and State, County and City parkland and conservation easements. The County Resolution is an important show of support as ultimately the decision to designate a NCA is a political one requiring an act of Congress. If this NCA goes forward, it will be the first in Washington State.

Council Member Crawford was initially responding to a letter from Interior Secretary Salazar regarding interest in designating BLM lands in Whatcom County as Wilderness Areas. The letter was likely a blanket letter for all counties with BLM land. The only BLM land in Whatcom County are these three small rocky outcrops and they fit much better in a NCA designation.

Whidbey Island and the Sound of Freedom

Whidbey Island located in the northern part of Puget Sound is a long island that is accessed on the north via a spectacular set of bridges across Deception Pass and from the south via a ferry from Mukilteo on the mainland to Clinton. Another ferry crosses the entrance to Puget Sound from Keystone on Whidbey to Port Townsend on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula. Whidbey Island is mostly rural with substantial areas of commercial forest land and farmland as well as some of the earliest American settlements in the state in the Coupeville area. It is also the home of Whidbey Island Navy Air Base. And as such there is a saying on the island, "The sound of freedom".

While crossing Admiralty Inlet from a venture to Port Townsend I could hear the roar of jets overhead. The jest were doing touch and go landings and take offs at the Coupeville Runway. The runway is located on a glacial outwash plain called Smith Prairie.

View of Smith Prairie and the Coupeville Runway

The jets are very loud and very fast. So this lovely, rural, historic island with its forests, farms and small towns rural does have periods of very loud roaring jets overhead - the sound of freedom.

A Cheer from My Tribal Home Land

When I made my second trip back to the tribal home land, a First Nations' friend from Washington expressed cocern that I was leaving and returning to my people. I have to admit during our times of troubles here it is sometimes tempting to go to a land where children are welcomed in pubs.

So after tending to various bumps, scratches and the effects of a nasty patch of nettles with tricky footing on a steep slope I needed a little home land cheer and Lisa Hannigan always cheers me up.  

Wallowa Valley, Craters of the Moon and Chief Joseph

While flying to Colorado I had some great aerial photographs of the Washington landscape as I passed high overhead. But I had some great geology views beyond Washington State and afterwards recognized that these places were part of the story behind one of the greatest leaders that ever lived in Washington.

Lake Wallowa and the Wallowa Mountains, northeast Oregon

A clasic glacial morain lake protruding out from the mountains into the Wallowa Valley

The Snake River and Hells Canyon on the border of Oregon and Idaho is the deepest canyon in the United States

The dark area in the central portion of the photograph are the lava beds of Craters of the Moon National  Monument

Besides the cool geology of these areas, these sites are part of a great tragic tale. The Wallowa Valley was the principal homeland of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce. Joseph and his people lived in the valley with their herds of horses in the summer and utilized the low elevations along the deep Snake River Canyon during the winter. But the Wallowa Valley attracted early American settlers and the United States was unwilling to stop the encroachment on Nez Perce land. Eventually the U.S. Army ordered the Nez Perce to leave the valley. Joseph held out hope that he could successfully plead his case and return to the valley, but while leaving for the designated reservation in Idaho a band of his men attacked a group of Americans. Joseph decided to keep his entire band together and began a long trek across the Idaho, Wyoming and Montana all the while being tracked by the U.S. Army. The Nez Perce despite traveling with elderly tribal members, women and children successfully eluded the army and at Craters of the Moon won a key victory over the army.

In the end the tribe failed to reach Canada or gain help from other tribes. Joseph and surrendered a few miles south of the Canadian border where he was reported to state "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." Joseph and his band were sent to Oklahoma. The band was allowed to return to the Northwest where members were given a choice - they could live on the Nez Perce Reservation if they cut their hair and gave up many of the customs and become Christians or live on the Colville Reservation. Joseph chose the Colville where he lived in Nespelum, Washington along with Chief Moses. He was never allowed to return to his beloved Wallowa Valley.