Coal opponents forging cross-border ties

As dawn broke one day last summer, I approached a quiet White Rock railway crossing beside the beach. The only sounds at this early hour were a seagull's cries and the fluttering of sheets of paper taped to a post waving like small flags in the quiet before a battle: a judge's injunction. Shortly, the first of several coal-laden trains were scheduled to lumber north across the U.S. border, headed as they do each day to the Westshore coal terminal at Roberts bank near Tsawwassen, and on to Asian buyers. But on this day at least, May 5, 2012, their progress would be halted -- if only for a while.