They’ve been shipping coal from Lamberts Point on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk (just between the midtown tunnel and Old Dominion University along Hampton Boulevard) since 1885. Nearly 22 million pounds tons of coal are exported every year. It’s no secret.
But, today, it’s a news story for the editors at the Virginian-Pilot who devote much of their time and energy to a story more than a century old.
In what really is probably the best indication that there is no news this week, the Pilot runs a story that, shock of shocks, shows that living next to an industrial location will sometimes make you have to use Pledge more than once a month.
The gist of the story – the Sierra Club hosted a meeting where the American Lung Association cited the health consequences of inhaling dust. This smacks of both organizations trying to gin up more donations.
The Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network managed to turn out 100 people to their venue hosted at a public university – ODU (your tax dollars at work!), where the result was, apparently, to talk with Norfolk Southern about this more than a century-old “problem” which, ironically, doesn’t seem to be stopping the area from developing.
Norfolk Southern’s response: stuff it. Okay, maybe not exactly, but the meeting isn’t happening anytime soon, particularly since they already hose down the coal with water to mitigate the dust and then spray every car with a solution that seals the coal to the atmosphere.
No, Sierra Club, they’re not going to spend $700 per car on a cover that you’ll eventually find a reason to call useless in a decade anyway.
Exporting coal through Lamberts Point is one our greatest national treasures. It’s a competitive advantage that we have over other nations and a source of economic prosperity (otherwise, why would we be exporting from there – think about it).
And, ironically, it’s this economic prosperity that organizations like the Sierra Club hope to capitalize on to fund their meetings and pay their executive director’s salary.
Of course, in the article, there was a voice of reason.
“West Ghent homeowner Joe Pereira has lived near the tracks for 19 years. He said he’s noticed some coal dust in the area over the years, but it doesn’t bother him much.
“‘It is what it is,’ he said. ‘If you don’t like it, move.'”
Indeed.
J.R. Hoeft is the founder of BearingDrift.com.
Twitter: @jrhoeft | Facebook: http://facebook.com/jrhoeft
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