“Scoping” is your first opportunity to make a difference in the permitting process of the Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT), the coal terminal proposed for Cherry Point. Before the coal terminal can proceed, a lengthy environmental review must be conducted jointly by Whatcom County, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Until Jan. 21, 2013, these agencies will accept public comment on the scope of this environmental review and you have and several options to be heard.

These agencies want to know what you want them to study; that’s “Scoping.” They will review thousands of public comments and come up a plan of what to study. Scoping is very important—topics left out of the scope of review won’t be studied. It’s up to you to tell the agencies what you want included—and why.

• ADVERSE - the impact affects people, businesses, resources or ecosystems negatively
• SIGNIFICANT - the impact affects a lot of people, or a few people severely
• REASONABLY FORESEEABLE - the impact is likely to result from the proposed development (in this case a coal terminal at Cherry Point)
  

Submitting Public Comments

All comments received during the scoping process will be considered the same way. There are many ways that you can participate in the scoping process. You can submit comments in person at a scoping meeting or:

Because scoping is an open public comment, you're allowed to discuss whatever concerns you about the GPT coal terminal project. To get started, it might help to consider some of the ways in which the proposal impact certain aspects of our local and global environment:

• MARINE IMPACTS: The coal terminal's shipping traffic, emissions and runoff threatens our salmon fisheries, a critical economic resource. Salmon fishing jobs will be lost, and a way of life will be lost unless we speak up.
• TRAFFIC IMPACTS: Coal trains and shipping traffic will slow down our economy. The Cherry Point terminal will add 18 new trains of traffic per day, with 2 to 3 hours of delays for public safety first responders, businesses and commuters.
• HEALTH IMPACTS: Diesel emissions from new train and shipping traffic increase rates of asthma and the risk of respiratory cancer. Over 200 local doctors have expressed concerns about the threat of coal export to public health.
• CLIMATE CHANGE: Making it easier to burn coal is the last thing we should be doing to our warming planet. Mining, shipping and burning coal is wrong, and we can do better for future generations.