Heard the expression "not in my backyard?" Try not on our back river, according to Columbia
Riverkeeper and Portland Rising Tide.
The environmental watchdog groups will hold a teach-in
tonight at 7 pm, Wednesday March 23, at the First Unitarian Church of Portland (1226 SW Salmon St.) to discuss how the Columbia River could soon become an
important conduit for dirty energy via the
transportation of machinery destined for the Alberta Tar Sands, and the
shipping of coal through the Port of Longview, Wash.
The Tar Sands are in central
Alberta and comprise an area roughly the size of Florida. The Tar Sands contain
as much as 173 billion barrels of oil. Only unlike the oil that comes from
countries like Saudi Arabia or Iraq, this oil is bound together with sand and
water. And removing the oil is a dirty business.
CORRECTION (The following paragraph has been corrected since the original post per a comment noting our original error on the amounts of coal.)
Millennium Bulk Terminals, the company seeking
to export coal out of Longview, Wash. initially claimed it wanted to ship
five million tons of coal out the port. But recently released court documents show the
company actually intends to ship as much as 60 million tons. Messages left with company officials weren't immediately returned.
WWeek 2015