CONTAINER & CARGO HANDLING

A local spanner in port development works

15 years ago

Concerns voiced by local residents are often heard when coal export facility development is mooted, as one planned terminal at Coos Bay, Oregon, can testify.

Local residents sometimes raise environmental concerns on nearby coal port development

A group called the Sierra Club has raised fears about pollution – for example, the prospect of coal dust flying out of open coal cars. A representative of the Port of Coos Bay, Elise Hamner, said that the port “would not consider any proposal that involves open piles of coal”.

Meanwhile, concerns were raised over a proposed Dudgeon Point Terminal in Queensland by nearly 300 people who requested that the State Government look into the potential environmental impacts on a nature reserve close to the area.

The concerns were addressed in a reply from Rachel Nolan, Queensland Natural Resources Minister. Ms Nolan said that in the last 40 years, there was no evidence of environmental damage from the coal export facilities at Hay Point and that the only emissions from the terminal would be coal dust, which in any case, is an organic compound that could not affect the park.