Coal export talks slated on Peninsula this week

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The possibility of coal export terminals being set up in the Pacific Northwest will be the topic of a lecture in Port Angeles today and in Port Townsend on Thursday.

Ashley Ahearn, a science and environmental reporter for KUOW 94.9 FM of Seattle, will present “Coal Export Terminals in the Pacific Northwest: A Look at the Policy, Science and Economics of Selling American Coal to Asia” in both cities.

Today’s lecture will be at 6:30 p.m. at The Landing mall, 115 E. Railroad Ave., Port Angeles. Admission will be free.

Thursday’s lecture will be at 7 p.m. at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave., Port Townsend.

General admission will be $7. Port Townsend Marine Science Center members will be admitted for $5, and the lecture is free for those 18 and younger.

The Port Angeles event is sponsored by the Coastal Watershed Institute, Clallam Marine Resources Committee and the OP Chapter, Surfrider Foundation, while the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is hosting the Thursday speech.

Some coal companies are eyeing the Pacific Northwest as a fast route to get their product from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to Asian markets.

Five ports in Washington and Oregon are considering coal-export terminals, and people in both states are considering potential impacts.

The largest of the five proposed coal-export sites, the Gateway Pacific Terminal, could be built north of Bellingham.

Ahearn will present video and audio reporting from the EarthFix team of KUOW, which is operated by Puget Sound Public Radio.

More info can be found at http://earthfix.kuow.org/coal.

Ahearn earned her master’s degree in science journalism at the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California.