Coal

Dr. Frank James is an American - his citizenship is significant to this story - and the health officer for Washington state's San Juan County. He is also a professor of public health at the University of Washington. James is a member of Whatcom Docs, a group of physicians that formed two years ago when it learned of a proposal to ship up to 48 million tons of Wyoming coal through Bellingham. It would mean 50 kilometres of coal train running along the shores of Puget Sound per day. From an initial core of about 140 interested physicians, Whatcom Docs has since grown to 215 members.

This is a guest post by Mike Stark from FossilAgenda. Last month, I attended Platt’s 36th Annual Coal Marketing Days. As a journalist predominantly focused on climate change and the coal industry for the past year, I was pleasantly surprised at how much ground was covered. At the same time, I was not surprised by the subdued mood that permeated this event.