"What, me worry?"
Who knew? It turns out that huge concerns about global warming are outside the boundaries of the little thought boxes that guide the Army Corps of Engineers. The single most pressing issue of our time, out of "scope".
The Army Corps of Engineers announced today, in testimony to the US House of Representatives, that their EIS process for the proposed Gateway Pacific Coal Export Terminal (GPT) will exclude "off site" effects such as massive contributions to global warming from the combusted coal.
Stuck in a Thought Box
To review: Three terminals, to export
over 100 million tons of coal to China per year, resulting in gigatons of CO2 pollution and increases in the mercury that already harms our waters and the fish that we eat. A Keystone-scale impact on our world and climate. There are well over 101 known
reasons to be concerned about these plans, and a vast majority of them have been excluded from consideration by the Corps announcement.
Nope, our climate, our planet, our waters, are not worth protecting, per the Corps. If somebody is going to pee in the pool, as long as they do it over there, it's just fine.
From Oregonlive
Jennifer Moyer, acting chief of the Corps' regulatory program, told a House subcommittee today that the agency would review the three proposed export terminals separately, and would not directly address some of the opposition's top concerns. All three projects seek to export Montana and Wyoming coal to Asia through the Northwest.
"Many of the activities of concern to the public, such as rail traffic, coal mining, shipping coal outside of U.S. territory, and the ultimate burning of coal overseas, are outside the Corps' control and responsibility,"
Nothing to See Here -
Just one of the Three Planned Terminals
Here's the
complete statement.
From McClatchy
“The corps will limit its focus on emissions to those associated with construction of the facilities,” Jennifer Moyer, acting regulatory chief for the corps told lawmakers. “The effects of burning of coal in Asia or wherever it may be is too far to affect our action.”
Because it's not as if we'll be breathing that same air or anything. Or living on the same planet.
On a bad news day, it's important to keep the bigger picture in mind. The EIS process is run by three agencies, not just one. The Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) and the Whatcom County Planning and Development Services (PDS) get to decide their scope. Yet another WA state agency, Department of Natural Resources, will decide whether to issue a lease for the pier.
It is possible that the Corps of Engineers is too far away from reality to reach, but the people running that state of Washington are far closer to the impacts, and their voters.
So - Keep calm and carry on!
Our Future - Worth Saving
Any time you think that you don't have a choice, you actually do.
Any time you think you have to do something that's wrong, you don't.
Not Here
Not Today
Not Any More
We shall not participate in our own destruction.
Previous entries in this series, in chronological order first to most recent:
We shall not participate in our own destruction
Pretty much the dumbest idea ever
Can a community defy a cabal of multi-national corporations?
Great for the coal cabal! For us, not so much
And So it Begins
Right Brain for This Decision?
101 Reasons to be Concerned About Coal Export
On Refusing to be Rounded out of Existence
Who Are the Welfare Queens Now?
There Is No Daylight
Tis the Season to Decide Our Future
They've Got the Money. We've Got the Humans!
The House of Actual Reality
Permanence
Collision With Reality
Climate Change and Coal Export - Taking Responsibility