[转帖] [2013.04.20]Coal exports in the north-west 华盛顿西北部的煤碳出口

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http://www.ecocn.org/thread-185761-1-1.html

United states美国

Coal exports in the north-west 华盛顿西北部的煤碳出口

Dirty war 肮脏的战争

A rancorous scrap over plans to send American coal to Asia因对美国出口煤碳到亚洲计划不满而引发的的争吵

Apr20th 2013  | BELLINGHAM AND SEATTLE,WASHINGTON  |From the print edition

Yet still they come它们还是来了

MITT ROMNEY’S charge that America had declared “war on coal”may not have won him last year’s presidential election. Yet this once-mighty industry is struggling, squeezed by the plummeting cost of natural gas and a torrent of tough new environmental rules. Last year 37.4% of American electricity production came from coal, down from 48.5% in 2007. The Energy Information Administration expects a slight rise this year as gas prices begin to creep up. But further restrictions on power-station emissions are expected,and the shale revolution is marching on. If coal has a future, it is surely elsewhere.
美国已经打响了“煤炭保卫战”----米特·罗姆尼的这一竞选宣言可能不会使他在去年的大选中获胜。但这个受到价格迅猛下跌中的天然气以及一系列严格环境新规挤压的曾经强大的产业，正在奋力自保。去年，37.4%的美国电力生产来源于煤碳，低于2007年的48.5%。美国能源信息管理局预计今年这一比例会由于天然气价格的开始上涨而略有上升。但对于发电厂污染排放量的更严厉限制也在预期之中。页岩革命方兴未艾. 如果美国煤碳业还有出路，那一定是在美国以外的地方。


For many, that means Asia.Demand for coal imports is growing in post-Fukushima Japan,as it decreases its reliance on nuclear power; in India,where domestic supplies cannot keep up with the growing economy; and, mosttantalisingly, in China,which burns almost half the world’s coal, and which became a net importer of the stuff in 2009.

很大程度上来说，那个地方就是亚洲。在日本，福岛核电站事故后，对核电依赖性的降低，使煤碳进口的需求正在增加；在印度，国内煤碳的供应也无法满足经济的发展；最为着急的是中国，她一年烧掉的煤碳量达到世界煤碳产出量的一半。中国还曾在2009年成为这一物资的净进口国。

Such facts make mouths water in the Powder River Basin,straddling Wyoming and Montana(see map), where more than 40% of America’s coal is mined. Somealready makes its way to Asia, mainly via Canadian ports. But exporters want to build four new terminals on the western shores of the United States—two apiece in Oregon and Washington—to send up to 130m tonnes more a year. The largest, the1,500-acre (600-hectare) Gateway Pacific Terminal near Bellingham in northern Washington, would handle up to 48m tonnes of coal a year, as well as up to 6m tonnes of other dry bulk, such as grain.

这样的事实让位于怀俄明和蒙大拿两州交界处的粉河盆地（the Power River Basin）垂涎欲滴。这里的煤矿产出的煤碳量占到全美煤碳量的40%。其中一部分已经主要经由加拿大境内港口运往亚洲。但出口商们还想在美国西海岸建造四个新的出口港，包括分别位于俄勒岗州和华盛顿州的两个。四个港口每年可以运送出超过一亿三千万吨的煤碳。最大的一个是位于华盛顿北部贝灵汉的太平洋港，达到1500亩（600公顷）。建成后一年可运送4800万吨以上的煤碳，以及600万吨以上的干货，比如稻谷。

Energy wars in America’s West are nothing new. But the rancour aroused by the coal-export proposal has become as toxic as afour-chimney belcher. Coal states accuse coastal ones of high-minded NIMBYism.Campaigners say corporations have a primeval attitude to the environment.Cities and counties lock horns over jobs and trade. Everyone accuses everyone else of bad faith, basic innumeracy and, in some cases, black ops.

美国西部的能源战并不是件新鲜事。但因煤碳出口建议而引发的抱怨已经与从烟囱排放的大量烟雾一样给城市带来了不良影响。煤碳产出州的人们指责港口城市的居民是高傲的建议反对者。而反对者们说煤碳公司对环境的态度仅是出于一种本能的考虑。这些港口市、镇不为新港的建设组织人力，也不进行相关的商业交易。人们都指责对方不能给予自己信任，指责对方缺乏基本的常识，甚至认为对方干的是肮脏的交易。

Local objections focus on the trains that would carry coal to the Gateway Pacific Terminal. At capacity, 18 trains a day would run to and from the facility: nine bearing coal and nine returning empty to the mines. BNSF Railway, one of the project’s backers, says little new rail infrastructure would be needed, as traffic remains below its 2006 peak.Sceptics doubt that, and say the bill will be dumped on taxpayers.

当地的反对意见主要针对将要运送煤碳到太平洋港的列车。运力方面，一天18列火车将往返于煤矿与港口之间：9列装载煤碳并当日全部返空回煤矿。港口新建项目支持者之一的伯灵顿北方圣太菲铁路运输公司（BNSF Railway）认为，不需要为此修建新的铁路基础设施，因为铁路交通量仍低于其2006年高峰时期。但持怀疑态度的人们对此表示质疑，并认为修建基础设施的费用将会由纳税人承担。

Even without new tracks there is plenty to object to. The coal trains would rattle through central Seattle (the empties could return via other tracks, says BNSF), potentially gumming up roads already groaning with congestion. “I don’t want this terminal built,” says Mike McGinn, the mayor. In Bellingham, a group called Whatcom Docs (named for the surrounding county) worries about trains spewing diesel particulates. Others fret about coal dust flying off the trains; the Sierra Club, an environmental NGO, is threatening to sue BNSF for polluting Washington’s waterways.

尽管不用新修铁路，这也是许多人所反对的。但运煤火车将会快速地通过西雅图中心（BNSF说返空车将经由其他铁路返回），这会给本已因拥挤而怨声载道的道路带来潜在的麻烦。“我不想这个港口被修建起来”西雅图市长麦克·麦克金说。在贝灵汉，一个名为霍特科姆郡（这是附近的一个县的名字）的团体担心运煤列车会流出柴油污染物。其他的人则为列车所带来的煤渣扬尘而感到担忧。西尔瑞俱乐部（the Sierra Club），一个非赢利性环境组织正危胁说要起诉BNSF污染了华盛顿州的铁路线。

Press the naysayers, though, and you find deeper concerns. “Shipping coal to Asia is about as innovative as a tree stump,” says Reuven Carlyle, a Washington legislator who thinks the state’s future lies in emulating the high-tech achievements of Amazon and Boeing. Theterminal’s main local foes call themselves Power Past Coal. Shovelling millions of tonnes of the stuff to China every year, say campaigners, will lower prices and encourage it to prolong its reliance on the filthy fuel.

然而，对反对者们的报道会使你发现他们更深的担忧。“运煤到亚洲就象对一棵树桩进行的创新”，鲁文·卡利乐（ReuvenCarlyle）说。他是华盛顿的一位立法委员，认为国家的未来应当建立在努力提升象亚马逊和波音公司这样的大型公司的高科技成就上。华盛顿州港口建设主要的反对者们称他们自己为“电超煤”。他们说，每年出口数百万吨的煤碳到中国将使中国的煤价降低，并鼓励其对这一肮脏燃料的继续依赖。

Yet Richard Morse of Supercritical Capital,an energy consultancy, argues you would have to model the energy sectors of atleast 15 countries to know whether fresh coal exports would increase global carbon emissions. The focus on China is “myopic”, he says, but even there it is hard to contend that new imports would affect energy policy. For one thing, China’s domestic coal market is sobig that a modest decline in import prices would be unlikely to make much difference at the margin. For another, China’s energy strategy is not particularly price-sensitive. “The Chinese are trying everything they can to get off coal,” says Mr Morse. “But the rate at which they can do so is maxed out.” The lights must stay on in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

来自一家能源咨询公司----超重资本的里查德·莫尔斯（Richard Morse）认为，将不得不以至少15个国家的能源领域为模型，来了解新的煤碳出口是否会增加全球的碳排放量。他认为，聚焦中国是一种短视。但即使是在中国，也很难说新的煤碳进口会对其能源政策有所影响。因为首先，中国国内的煤碳市场是如此的巨大，进口价格的温和下降可能不会对美国出口的利润有多大影响。第二，中国的能源战略对价格不是特别地敏感。“中国正在竭尽所能地不用煤碳，”莫尔斯继续说：“但他们努力的程度已经达到了极限。”上海和深圳一定会继续使用煤碳发电。

Closer to home, Bellingham desperately needs the “good unionjobs” that SSA Marine, the terminal operator, would provide, says Mark Lowry, alocal union rep who professes no love for coal. SSA says the terminal would provide up to 4,430 direct and indirect jobs during building and 1,250 after that (opponents say these numbers are puny, and dispute them). SSA Marine employees will earn about $100,000 a year, far higher than the local average.

作为当地工会的一位代表，马克·罗瑞（Mark Lowry）一直公开表明对煤碳的厌恶。他认为，离自己家更近的贝灵汉是绝对需要港口作业方，即美国海运装卸公司（SSA Marine）可能会提供的好工作的。SSA表示，港口修建期间，将会提供4430多个直接或间接的工作岗位；修建完成后，可以提供的工作是1250个（反对者则说这些数字微不足道，而且还表示出怀疑）。美国海运装卸公司雇员的年薪将大约是十万美元，远高于当地的平均水平。

But the terminal must first survive an extensive environmental review, conducted by a federal agency and local officials. Like everything else, its scope has been hotly contested. The governors of Oregon and Washington have urged the federal government to look at the global climate implications. Construction will not begin until 2016 at the earliest. More or less the only thing the two sides can agree on is that the row will continue until then.

但港口必须首先通过联邦代理机构以及当地官员们所进行的广泛的环境评估。象其他的项目一样，它所能涉及的领域已经历了激烈地争辩。怀俄明和华盛顿两州的政府官员已敦促联邦政府注意全球气候可能的变化。港口的建设最早会在2016年动工。到那时，争吵的继续将是支持与反对两方或多或少能达成的的唯一的一致。

From the print edition: United States