I am writing in response to a letter a letter stating the amount of coal dust that gets deposited on our railroad right of ways each year. According to the writer some three million pounds of coal dust per mile is left to accumulate over the years. It is my understanding that Burlington Northern has been hauling coal through Bellingham to Canada for quite a few years. I wonder how that is done leaving no trace?

Perhaps it is time that we began to think rationally about what we say and write and not be led by a few individuals with a special interest in the Cherry Point project. Check out your source of information for yourself! Also another writer says we don't need the coal jobs! That's easy to say when you have a job or are retired. But I bet you don't hear the young man who hasn't worked in three years and has a wife and two kids to support saying it. Sure there are not a lot of permanent jobs but they are good paying jobs with benefits which are hard to come by around here. We need to stop thinking of ourselves and great lifestyles and think of the next generation and how are they going to get by! Now I'll get down off my soap box and say good day!

Bob Landon

Bellingham