Oregon doesn't need coal

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Tom Kelly is the president of Neil Kelly Inc.

We can do better.

Shipping dirty coal from Oregon ports to markets in Asia is not a good strategy for our economy or our environment. As business leader, I put a premium on value. In this case, we need to value how a high quality of life and our reputation as a clean economy leader helps us grow and attract business in Oregon. At a time when our region is focused on growing our economy through exports of high-value manufactured goods, shipping a polluting raw commodity is a poor economic development strategy.

Coal export terminals in our region would have very significant impacts on our communities and economic prosperity. This is equally true for potential terminals being discussed in Oregon -- including sites at Coos Bay, St. Helens, and the Port of Morrow -- as it is for the massive terminals planned across the Columbia River in Longview and near Bellingham, Washington. The benefits from these facilities would be confined to a few companies and locations while the impacts will be felt across the state, region, and globe.

In addition to the many dangerous health and environmental impacts of turning our state into an epicenter for coal exports, the economic case alone should give us pause:

• Transporting coal would dramatically increase rail traffic – splitting many communities in two and limiting access to school, work, and play. The traffic would cause delays and congestion, impede emergency services, and reduce the ability of other shippers to use the rail lines for more valuable products.

• Miles of coal trains would place unsustainable demands on public spending for rail crossings, track expansion, and other infrastructure.

•The increased air, water, and noise pollution from coal trains and terminals would lower property values, threaten public health, and degrade vital ecosystems that are critical to the Oregon and Northwest economies.

• And, of course, pursuing this backwards-looking economic strategy would undercut Oregon’s brand as a center of the global clean economy.

We can do better.

Oregon has been charting a forward thinking, new economic path -- we are doing better. We are driving innovative advances in energy efficiency, smart grid and electric vehicles, and renewable energy. And, Oregon has banned new sources of coal for expanded generation needs. Becoming a gateway to exporting dirty coal to Asia would fly in the face of this clean-energy economy leadership and of our being a trusted guardian of our state’s land and water.

These coal companies are trying to fast-track the process in the dark of night, not allowing the public and our state leaders to look at the full impacts of the proposals. When the dirty details emerge in the light of day, it is even clearer we should be exporting made-in-Oregon clean energy solutions, not 19^th century fossil fuels. I urge Governor Kitzhaber to take a hard look at all the impacts of these projects on our economy and quality of life before turning Oregon into a resource colony for shipping this dirty commodity overseas.