Originally published on the CGS blog on January 26, 2016.
It was a Thursday night. I was overwhelmed by midterm papers and exhausted from the afternoon’s track workout. But rather than spending my evening studying, I was waiting in line in the bitter cold, filing slowly into a packed auditorium in downtown Spokane. Why? Because my environmental studies professor had “strongly encouraged” me and my classmates to attend that night’s NEPA hearing.
A NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) hearing is an event where each citizen gets a small window of time to voice their support or opposition to a government project. The government is required to consider what every person says… but they don’t necessarily have to act according to majority opinion. This particular hearing concerned plans to build a railway to transport cheap coal (deemed to be of too low quality to burn in the US) from the Powder River Basin to Vancouver, WA, where it would then be exported to China.
Once we settled into our seats, the novelty of the event disappeared. My brain became so inundated with numbers that citizens were rattling off–statistics about noise pollution and air pollution, rates of asthma, claims about the number of jobs that would be lost or created, etc—that it began to switch off….
Then, thankfully, it was jolted awake by an impassioned voice. A Cheyenne elder from the Powder River Basin was speaking about how tearing up the land for coal mining was not only contaminating the Tribe’s air and water, but was literally tearing up their culture—a culture engrained in the land. Ten other Cheyenne tribe members followed the woman’s speech, echoing her sentiments. [Click here to read more on the Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s relationship with coal].
That hearing was three years ago. The movement to ban coal since has progressed at a snail’s pace. Until last Friday, that is. On January 15th, Obama issued a temporary ban on new coal leases on federal lands (which account for 40% of coal produced in the US), including the Powder River Basin.
Today, as I muse about the ban’s significance, I recall that Cheyenne elder’s speech. I think not only the land and people whose health might be spared thanks to Obama’s act, but I also think of a culture that might be spared.
Today, I want to urge readers to join me in looking beyond the numbers. Think of those whose lives will benefit from the ban. Perhaps reflect on this quote by reporters Matthew Gannon and John Sutter:
The Northern Cheyenne’s war against coal isn’t a local story.
It’s one of global importance.
We have to decide to recognize that.
And after you reflect, speak up. Banning access to 40% of the US’s coal is good, but it is not enough. In a letter published in the journal Nature last year, Christophe McGlade and Paul Ekins concluded that, in order to stay within the carbon budget as declared by the Paris Agreement, the US needs to keep 95% of all coal reserves in the ground. Tell Congress to keep more fossil fuels underground by signing 350.org’s petition.
