From: Matt.Shea@leg.wa.gov
To: gordonfulks@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: [GWR] From Lars: coal death trains
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:24:04 +0000
Gordon,
We have at least one coal train that’s about a mile and a half long pass through Spokane every day and I have never seen any dust emanating from those trains. And the rail beds are clean, too.
Jim Robinson
Legislative Assistant to
Matt Shea
State Representative
4th Legislative District
Legislative Assistant to
Matt Shea
State Representative
4th Legislative District
(509) 921-2353
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:42:59 -0600
I watched the video and will do my best to produce something similar – that is real. We see coal trains here all the time, and there is absolutely no visible dust. A little diesel smoke – yes. Plumes of coal dust – no.
The trick for me will be to be in the right place at the right time to shoot a similar video. I will be out of town in Estes Park, Colorado, through Sunday. The next opportunity will be the following weekend. Then, I will actually have to choose and stake out a set of tracks and wait until an appropriate train comes along loaded with coal. I think the trains run with less frequency on the weekends, so it may be a bit of a wait up on the tracks in hundred degree heat. Maybe I should take along a cooler of beer and hope the rattlesnakes don’t want to share???
Another possibility would be to go to the top of Scotts Bluff National Monument where there is a panoramic view of all the railroad tracks in the surrounding countryside and usually at least one coal train to be seen moving somewhere in the distance. The problem there, of course, is the resolution. The air in western Nebraska is usually crystal clear but, of late, we’ve had quite a bit of smoke from forest fires in Colorado and Wyoming clouding the view. If the day is clear, I might at least be able to show that there is no plume of dust like that shown in the YouTube video. That video suggested dust so thick that the individual cars of the train were actually obscured – a blatantly ridiculous fabrication. If I can show clearly visible individual cars, albeit far away, would that be enough?
By the way, it might be worth mentioning to your audience that I work for a regional medical center and have no interest whatsoever in the coal business. If anything, we at the hospital would be aware from the disease monitoring side if there were a significant environmental threat from the coals trains. The town also has no significant interest in the coal or railroad business. The coal comes from Wyoming and the railroads are not particularly significant local employers. We, like most of the towns along the Platte River in Nebraska, are primarily transit points for the coal.
Stuart
