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transport tips Railroad Problems Besetting New Coal Developments BY DAVE GAMBREL Like any business heavily steeped in engineering, railroads are never willing to rule out any possible routing without thoroughly investigating the alternatives. BNSF Railway's Stevens Pass route in Washington from Spokane to Everett has its disadvantages, but much shorter distance and avoidance of large population centers tells the route engineering folks they cannot rule it out for long-term haulage of high volume coal trains. BNSF owns three mainline routes from Spokane to Bellingham: the single-track Stevens Pass route, the single-track Stampede Pass route, and the frequently used double-track Columbia River route. Every route will be thoroughly tested to determine which will be the best under projected circumstances. If coal trains can go through Los Angeles without incident, as they did when Los Angeles Export Terminal (LAXT) was still open, one assumes the numerous problems of pulling unit trains through Spokane can also be solved. Spokane is the rail gateway to Washington, and it already sees coal trains going to coal customers and ports, but it is imperative for BNSF to deal with the problems that additional coal trains will bring. Ignoring for the moment the problems of Spokane and of sharing this track with Amtrak's Empire Builder, we consider the technical problems of hauling coal trains through a steep-access tunnel in the Cascades, the Stevens Pass route. From an engineering standpoint, this may be the worst route, but it is 280 miles shorter so it has the potential of cutting 560 miles off every single round trip. The northernmost route from Spokane to Everett, the Stevens Pass route, leads through the Cascade Tunnel. The 7-mile Cascade Tunnel is in full operation and receives regular maintenance from BNSF. It is a straight-line tunnel running between Berne and Scenic Hot Springs, and is part of the Scenic Subdivision between Seattle and Wenatchee. Because of safety and ventilation issues, this tunnel is a limiting factor on how many trains the railroad can operate over this route from Seattle to Spokane. The current limit is 28 trains per day; train speed in the tunnel is 25 miles per hour. The westward gradient is 2.2% from the town of Skykomish. The sharpest gradient 22 www.coalage.com encountered by loaded Powder River Basin coal trains is about 1.2% near Caballo Junction, Wyo. Whether the 1% increased gradient would be an insurmountable problem for BNSF coal trains remains to be seen, but it is clearly a significant problem. The eastward gradient in this tunnel is 1.6%, which should be no problem for eastbound empties. However, single track and grade are not the only problems. A ventilation system is used to reduce problems with diesel fumes. As a train enters the west portal of the tunnel, doors close on the east portal and huge fans blow in cool air through a second portal to help the diesel engines. As long as the train is within the tunnel, the fans work with reduced power to avoid pressure problems. After the train has left the tunnel, 800 hp exhaust fans operate for 20 to 30 minutes to clear the tunnel of exhaust before the next train passes through. As If Technical Problems Weren't Enough Plaintiffs Sierra Club, a California non-profit organization, and four Pacific Northwest environmental organizations filed suit in June, in the U.S. District Court of Washington against BNSF Railway and five companies doing business in the Pacific Northwest. The five co-defendants named were coal producers Cloud Peak Energy, Peabody Energy, Ambre Energy, FirstEnergy and Global Mining Holding, all of whom produce coal in Wyoming and/or Montana. Defendants are charged with polluting 75 named bodies of water and their tributaries every time a coal car passes over them, which should prove to be an inviting mathematical and forensic problem. Unless the environmentalists can prove that specific coal came from a specific "point source" (each rail car), they will have a very difficult time proving where the coal came from. More than 230 mines have produced coal in Washington since the early 1800s, so it might be pretty tough to tell where it all came from. Then, on top of that, they have to prove that coal, which is pretty insoluble, is releasing pollutants. It may seem strange to older Washington natives, but coal pollution of water sources was not known as a serious problem until environmentalists activists began a series of anti-coal activities that led to the closing of Centralia power plant, and to the future closing of Oregon's Boardman power plant. In fact, USGS' 620-page report, Water Resources Data Washington Water Year 2002, said nothing about coal pollution. Did coal pollution of Washington waters begin sometime after 2002, is it really a problem, or is it just another environmentalist scare tactic? Water has Been Flowing Through Washington Coal Reserves for Centuries Coal Creek is a creek in Newcastle on the east side of Lake Washington. It is named for the coal mining industry prominent in the area in the 19th century. There is a popular trail that parallels the creek, allowing views of defunct coal mining equipment and even some bits of coal sitting on the ground in spots. The source of Coal Creek is 1,400 ft above sea level on Cougar Mountain. It flows approximately 7 miles to the northwest, emptying into Lake Washington at Newport Shores. The waters of Lake Washington connect with Puget Sound through Lake Union. How long has this natural creek been "polluting" the waters of Washington state? At the Glacier Coal Field, halfway up the slope of Mount Baker, the coal ranges from subbituminous to anthracite in rank. Several steeply dipping coal beds have been fractured and crushed by intense folding. In 1915, the chief industry of the town of Glacier was coal mining. Glacial melt water has been flowing through naturally crushed coal for centuries, forming numerous streams and rivers. Has anyone shown these waters are polluted by the crushed coal they flow through? The Nooksack River of Whatcom County is another water body that drains part of Washington's coal country. The main species to fish for are salmon and steelhead in the fall and winter. Salmon runs start in September. There are summer and winter Steelhead runs and sea-run Cutthroat and Dolly Varden as well. There is at least one large area of strippable coal lying in the drainage of the Nooksack River. The Nooksack has been a prime fishing ground for decades, and still is. Fishermen do not seem to be aware of any pollution problem caused by the waters flowing through coalfields. July 2013