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Residents, tribal members and health experts urge halt to Otter Creek coal exports and warn of local harms
Summary
Speakers from the Northern Cheyenne Nation, former miners, a pediatric pulmonologist and local residents testified in Missoula against the Otter Creek mine and dozens of proposed coal trains to West Coast ports, citing threats to water, air quality, public safety, recreation and public health.
Speakers at a Missoula public forum urged opposition to the proposed Otter Creek and Tongue River coal development and to long coal-train shipments that would move Montana coal to West Coast ports and overseas. Elena Buffalo Spirit, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, said she traveled to Washington, D.C., with the Northern Plains Resource Council to lobby Montana’s senators and asked, “Who wants to ruin this?” as she described the landscape around Otter Creek.
The forum brought together tribal members, former miners, health professionals and residents who described environmental, health and economic risks. "Children are the canaries in the coal mine for our environment," said Paul Smith, a pediatric…
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