mining

By Nick Mullins - The Thoughtful Coal Miner, April 12, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Many people believe that corporations are out to create jobs–at least that is what most industries use as an excuse to push for decreased regulation and tax cuts.

It’s no surprise that most people who follow along with this idea are terrible critical thinkers, or at least have a similar sense of psychopathic, self-centered greed as the corporations themselves. I’ve heard some people say, “They worked hard and deserve to keep their wealth,” to which it must be assumed that every corporation began and ended with the original founder of said company and nothing was ever been passed down to the next generation. But I digress. Back to why so many people are terribly misled.

Corporations are actually out to make a profit. It is the legal obligation of a public corporation to their stock holders. Legal obligation…that means by law, as in, they can get in deep shit if they don’t make profits for their stock holders.

If that means using less people to get more production, they will do it. If that means lowering wages or decreasing benefits to reduce labor overhead, they will do it. If that means taking cost saving short cuts and lobbying against regulations meant to protect people living near their operations, they will do it. If that means shipping jobs overseas so they can do all of the above, they will do it. If that means designing a system of economics that makes us all utterly dependent upon working their jobs to buy the food they produce and to purchase the medicines we must then take and to buy the vehicles, gas, and auto insurance to allow us to go get all of these things, then you better believe they’ll do it–or rather, they have done all of the above. We are at their mercy.

It’s not a Conservative vs. Liberal issue, its an Everybody vs. Corporate America issue. Corporate America has the money and power to corrupt our political system AND they’ve got plenty left over to spend on media to keep people fighting amongst themselves rather than see what the REAL problem is. For any of the 314,000+ people who have “Liked” Count on Coal’s Facebook page, do a search for Count on Coal and the National Mining Association. Wait, I’ll do the work for you…here click this link….

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 1, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Register now for the Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community & the Environment Conferences: Richmond, California (March 14, 2015) and Olympia, Washington (March 22, 2015) - railroadconference.org
• How Scrappy Community and Labor Activists Took on a California Oil Giant—and Won - By Jane Slaughter, In These Times, January 26, 2015
• Shut It Down Now! Former Nuclear Plant Technician Bob Rowen on Nuclear Power - By Steve Zelter, TruthOut, January 30, 2015
• Union rejects second refinery workers contract proposal - By Erwin Seba, Reuters, January 27, 2015

Crude by Rail:

• California Cities and Citizens Speak Out Against Oil Trains - By Ethan Buckner, Forest Ethics, January 26, 2015
• The Dangers of Hauling Crude Oil by Rail - By John Kristensen, Railroaded, January 25, 2015
• Oil Train Spills Hit Record Level in 2014 - By Tony Dokoupil, NBC Nightly News, January 26, 2015
• Why New "Improved" Oil Trains Are Not Nearly Good Enough: a closer look at the many flaws of CPC-1232 tank cars - By Eric de Place, Sightline Daily, January 28, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Big Oil needs a Plan B. It hasn’t got one - By Giles Parkinson, ReNew Economy, January 29, 2015
• BP cuts jobs in Houston as it trims Gulf of Mexico business - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, January 28, 2015
• BP will freeze pay for most of its employees - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, January 26, 2015
• ConocoPhillips tells employees to expect layoffs - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, January 29, 2015
• Drilling contractor may cut 2,000 field jobs as rigs idle - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, January 30, 2015
• The False Promise of Local Fracking Jobs - By Susan Christopherson, The Conversation, January 27, 2015
• Glencore mulls shutting down South African coal mines, lay offs - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, January 28, 2015

Green Jobs and Just Transition:

• Just Transitions Speaking Tour with Bob Massie - Yes 2 Renewables [FOE], January 30, 2015
• Parents, Teachers and Students Ask School Districts to Go 100% Renewable Energy - By Stefanie Spear, EcoWatch, January 27, 2015
• SMA Solar to cut 1,600 jobs as European demand slides - By Christoph Steitz and Maria Sheahan, Reuters, January 27, 2015

Other News of Interest:

• 400 parts per million and class struggle - By Victor Wallis, Climate and Capitalism, January 25, 2015
• ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local? - By Simon Davis-Cohen, Truthout, January 25, 2015
• Bangladesh Garment Workers Win Bargaining Pacts at 5 Factories - By Jennifer Kuhlman, AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, January 27, 2015
• Bribery Is a Bargain for Big Oil - By Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change International, January 22, 2015
• Former DNR employees say regulator stifles public information - By Jacob Barker, St Louis Post Dispatch, January 26, 2015
• The Heat Is On: Via Campesina and Allies Challenge Climate Capitalism - La Via Campesina, January 27, 2015
• The Precariat and the Basic Income: Part 1 - By Andrew Curry, The Next Wave, January 26, 2015
• The Precariat and the Basic Income: Part 2 - By Andrew Curry, The Next Wave, January 27, 2015
• 'Tiny houses' no solution to the unaffordability crisis - By Mike Stewart, Rabble.Ca, January 28, 2015
• Uber Accused of Lax Safety Practices by Delhi Woman - By Mike Isaac, New York Times, January 29, 2015
• Union workers press their case for contract demands at Lyondell refinery - By LM Sixell, FuelFix, January 28, 2015
• Up to 6,000 carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxins floating around EU - European Trade Union Institute, January 30, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 26, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• The Agents of Unregulated Globalization vs. the Agents of the Fight against Climate Change - By Jeanette Bonifaz, Center for Economic and Policy Research, January 9, 2015

Crude by Rail:

• CSX reports record fourth quarter results - Trains [paywall alert], January 21, 2015
• Federal Court Order: Explosive DOT-111 "Bomb Train" Oil Tank Cars Can Continue to Roll - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, January 23, 2015
• Interim Settlement Reached in Lac Megantic Oil Train Disaster, but Culprits Say "It Wasn't Us" - By Roger Annis, Truthout, January 22, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Alberta One Of Hardest Hit By Lower Oil Prices - By Andy Tully, OilPrice.Com, January 20, 2015
• Baker Hughes to lay off 7,000 - By Jennifer Hiller, FuelFix, January 20, 2015
• BHP to cut 40 percent of its U.S. shale drilling - By Jennifer Hiller, FuelFix, January 21, 2015
• Halliburton suggests North American layoffs could come - By Jennifer Hiller, FuelFix, January 20, 2015

Green Jobs and Just Transition:

• A Boom in Solar Jobs - By Rick Cohen, Nonprofit Quarterly, January 22, 2015
• In US, There Are Twice as Many Solar Workers as Coal Miners - By Kirsten Korosec, Fortune, January 17, 2015

Other News of Interest:

• Brazilian Workers, Students Battle Fare Hikes Pushed By Workers Party - By Steve Payne, In These Times, January 22, 2015
• Building Bridges with MST - By La Via Campesina South Asia, La Via Campesina, January 20, 2015
• Elizabeth Mpofu speaks before 50,000 people at the “we are fed up” demonstration - La Via Campesina, January 21, 2015
• Kosovo miners return from underground, ending 3-day strike - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, January 26, 2015
• 150-foot span of Willits Bypass collapses into Haehl Creek; Several workers injured - By Adrian Baumann and Michael Mott, Willits News, January 22, 2015
• Oil And Gas Production Is Exposing Californians To At Least 15 Different Kinds Of Pollutants - By Katie Valentine, Think Progress, January 22, 2015
• Outside Senators’ Clean Water Act proposal threatens Bristol Bay salmon, culture, jobs - By Tim Bristol, Save Bristol Bay, January 22, 2015
• Report faults Chevron - By D Ross Cameron, Contra Costa Times, January 24, 2015
• Scientists and Doctors Sound Alarm Over Health Dangers of Oil Spill Dispersants - By Dahr Jamail, Truthout, January 20, 2015
• Stop the Free Trade Agreements [brochure] - La Via Campesina, January 20, 2015
• U.S. refinery workers, oil firms start talks for new contract - By Erwin Seba, Reuters, January 21, 2015
• Via Campesina solidarity visit to Douro small wine growers - By La Via Campesina News Team, La Via Campesina, January 20, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 13, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Carbon Counterattack: How Big Oil Is Responding to the Anti-Carbon Movement - By Michael T Klare, Truthout, January 8, 2015
• Report: The First Worldwide Festival of Resistance in Mexico; Celebrating the Global Fight Against Capitalism in Mexico: Where There is Destruction From Above We Will Rebuild From Below - By Mackenzie McDonald Wilkins, Popular Resistance, January 8th, 2015

IWW Campaigns:

• Debate Heats Up over "As Needed" Workers: Santa Monica Beach Bathroom Workers Fight for Permanent Status - By Marcy Winograd, LA Progressive, January 9, 2015

Other News of Interest:

• Bringing Labor Back: Labor-management partnerships will not revive the union movement - By Chris Maisano, Jacobin, January 5, 2015
• Cape Wind Loses Power Contracts, Becomes Victim of Class Warfare - By Stephen Lacey, Greentech Media, January 7, 2015
• Carbon Bubble - The Gristle, Cascadia Weekly, December 30, 2014
• EPA Sued Over Disclosure Rules for Toxic Pollution from Drilling and Fracking - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, January 7, 2015
• Greening Malthus: The emphasis on family planning as an environmental fix distracts us from more fundamental reforms  - By Anne Hendrixson, Jacobin, January 8th, 2015
• Propaganda by Proxy: The Payoffs - Dory Hippauf, No Fracking Way, January 8, 2015
• Proposed B.C. coal mine to rely mostly on foreign workers, cost almost double - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, January 9, 2015
• Strikers Win at Waste Management - Teamsters for a Demorcatic Union, January 8th, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 12, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Story:

• Is Obama Really Going to Stop the Keystone XL? - Earth First! Newswire, January 6, 2015

IWW Campaigns:

• The world's first union for harm reduction workers [audio file] - By Scott Neigh, Rabble.Ca, January 7, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• BP details job cuts, capital spending declines in latest economic impact report - By Joshua Cain, Fuel Fix, January 6, 2015
• CAT cutting 120 jobs in Peoria - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, January 7, 2015
• Fracking’s future is in doubt as oil price plummets - By Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network, January 6, 2015
• Layoff notices coming to 175 workers at Grande Cache Coal - CBC News, January 7, 2015
• Shell Canada cutting back oilsands workforce - The Canadian Press, January 9, 2015
• Shell to cut 5 to 10 percent of 3,000 oil sands jobs - By Ryan Holeywell, FuelFix, January 9, 2015
• Small Texas oil company files for bankruptcy protection - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, January 7, 2015
• U.S. Steel 'Idles' Lorain Plant, Announces More Than 600 Local Layoffs - By Eric Sandy, Cleveland Scene, January 7, 2015
• U.S. Steel to lay off 142 in Houston - Associated Press, January 6, 2015
• Fact Sheet: Renewable Energy Job Numbers - By Laura Small and Yi Xu, Renewable Energy World, January 7, 2015
• Russia Blamed, US Taxpayers on the Hook, as Fracking Boom Collapses - By  Ben Ptashnik, Truthout, January 8, 2015

Other News of Interest:

• Coal India unions call off strike in relief for govt - By Krishna N. Das and Jatindra Dash, Reuters, January 7, 2015 [related]: India coal miners end nationwide strike - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, January 8, 2015
• "The Day When Change Will Come": It's Time To Break the Vicious Circle of Capitalism - By Steve Rushton, Occupy.Com, December 23, 2014
• Deep Questions Arise Over Portland's Corporate Water Takeover - By Victoria Collier, Truthout, January 7, 2015
• IOC playing hardball over small mistakes, union leader says - CBC News, January 7, 2015
• Mine accidents in Turkey claimed 361 lives in 2014 - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com January 7, 2015
• Occupational health services in need of emergency care - European Trade Union Institute, January 7, 2015
• Rio Tinto far from ethical, says global union - Bougainville Freedom Movement, Papua New Guinea Mine Watch, January 7, 2015; [related]: Rio Tinto has violated our rights for nearly 60 years and we are seeking $900 million in compensation - By Derrick, West Coast Native News, January 8, 2015
• U.S. Forest Service Cancels $10 Million Plan for National Public Relations Campaign - By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press (reposted on the Earth First! Newswire), January 8, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 7, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Story:

• Why Is the FBI Harassing Activists in Cascadia? - By Alexander Reid Ross, Defending Dissent, January 5, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Plunging Oil Prices Trigger Economic Downturn in Fracking Boom Town - By Anastasia Pantsios, EcoWatch, January 3, 2015
• Investors falter as fossil fuels face 'perfect storm' - By Kieran Cooke, The Ecologist, January 1, 2015
• Midland Basin oil worker talks crude prices, fracking bans in Reddit AMA - By Joshua Cain, FuelFix, January 1, 2015
• Oil driller laying off 700 in California - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, January 2, 2015

Other News of Interest:

• Biomass Facility Fires a Regular Occurrence - By Josh Schlossberg, Vail Daily via Energy Justice Network, December 29, 2014
• India coal strike the biggest industrial action since 1977 - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, January 6, 2015
• Kinder Morgan: law-breaking, pollution, and cover-ups - By Derrick, West Coast Native News, January 5, 2015
• RMT pledges full support for general strike in Belgium - RMT Press Office, RMT, December 15, 2014
• This Changes Something - By Dru Oja Jay, Briar Patch, January 2, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, January 6, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Story:

• Never Trust a COP: The 2014 UN Climate Summit, Lima, Peru - By John Foran, Climate Justice Project, December 14, 2014

Railroad Workers, Safety, and the Environment:

• How crude-by-rail-–and other debates–-are censored - By Lois Kazakoff, San Francisco Chronicle, January 2, 2015
• How Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton Made Oil Trains Less Safe - By Eric de Place, Sightline Daily, January 5, 2015
• JR Hokkaido admits express train ran for month with automatic stop system deactivated - Japan Times, December 30, 2014
• [Graphic]: Train Derailments Not Good News in Canada - Railroaded Blog, January 2, 2015

Black Lives Matter:

• 15Now and #BlackLivesMatter Take Over Town Hall Meeting on TPP Fast Track - By Anonymous, Earth First! Newswire, January 3, 2015
• Uniting Fight for $15 with Ferguson Fury - By Ty Moore, 15 Now Organizing Director, 15 Now, January 3, 2015
• The Police Were Created to Control Poor and Working Class People - By Sam Mitrani, Counter Punch, December 31, 2014

Other News of Interest:

• Deal offers hope for miners thrown out of work in W. Kentucky - By Andrew Topf, Mining.Com, January 4, 2015
• Feed the World? The Myth of Food Scarcity and the Evil of Profit Starvation - By Daniel Dawson, Freedom, January 1, 2015
• Fracking Industry Still “Failing” on Transparency - By Carey L. Biron, Mint News Press, January 2, 2015
• The Marikana miners deserve justice - By James Nichol, Socialist Worker, January 5, 2015
• Power corrupts: How network companies lined their pockets and drove electricity prices through the roof - By Jess Hill, The Monthly, July 2014
• Remembering Sago - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coalminer, January 3, 2015
• Senator Pushes Keystone XL Pipeline With Egregiously Misleading Statistic - By Emily Atkin, Think Progress, January 4, 2015
• 2014 Year-End Mining Industry Scorecard - By Payal Sampat, Earthworks, December 31, 2014

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, December 30, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Did Somebody Say Direct Action? What’s Missing from the Victory Narrative - By Alexander Reid Ross, Earth First! Journal, December 22, 2014
• Everything’s Coming Together While Everything Falls Apart - By Rebecca Solnit, Tom Dispatch, December 23, 2014
• Protest too much? 2014 was a big year for rabblerousing - By Heather Smith, Grist, December 23, 2014

Other News of Interest:

• BHP, Rio, Anglo fear effects of Chile’s new labour bill - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, December 23, 2014
• Busting the Myth of “Job-Killing EPA Regulations” - By Ken Kimmell, President, Union of Concerned Scientists, Renewable Energy World, December 28, 2014
• Canadian Pension Funds To Invest In Renewables To The Tune Of $2 Billion - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, December 24, 2014
• A Dollar a Day Keeps the Smokestacks Away [Fundraising appeal for a project involving IWW members] - By Josh, Energy Justice Network, December 23, 2014
• Electricity suppliers are shedding jobs, despite renewables growth - By Melissa C. Lott, Scientific American, December 23, 2014; [related]: Employment Drops in All Segments of the Power Sector—Except Renewables - By Julia Pyper, Greentech Media, December 24, 2014
• Environmentalists Are Gearing Up for the Next Phase of New York's Fracking Wars - By Peter Rugh, Vice, December 18, 2014
• The 4 Day Week? - By Tegan Tallulla, Earth Baby Blog, September 30, 2013
• Innovations or Hucksterism? Three Little-Known Infrastructure Privatization Problems - By Ellen Dannin, Truthout, December 22, 2014
• Marathon evacuates personnel from two North Sea platforms - By Robert Grattan, Fuel Fix, December 23, 2014
• Dave Kerin on Workers’ Cooperatives and the Climate Emergency - By Dave Kerin, Anarchist Affinity, November 12, 2014
• Phoenix warns of bus disruptions as union negotiates - By Brenna Goth, Arizona Republic, December 24, 2014
• Railroads seek permission to put a single person in charge of miles-long freight trains [Quotes IWW members] - By Josh Funk, Star Tribune, December 22, 2014
• Railroads, unions to begin collective bargaining talks next month - By Russell Hubbard, Omaha World-Herald, December 26, 2014
• Talcher workers up against coal mining privatization - Nyooz, December 2014
• TTIP: Chemical corporations against safety protections - By Patrick Gleeson, The Ecologist, December 24, 2014

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, December 29, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Story:

• Workers must lead transition to green economy, unions say at climate talks - By Renee Lewis, Al Jazeera, December 9, 2014

Other News of Interest:

• Argentina: Mining Corporations vs. Democracy - By Ezequiel Adamovsky, Upside Down World, December 18, 2014
• Capitalism and the Commodification of Salmon - By Stefano B. Longo, Rebecca Clausen and Brett Clark, Monthly Review, December 2014
• Crude price drop triggers major layoffs in US oil industry - Russia Times, December 27, 2014; [related] Oil price panic and climate justice - By Jesse McLaren, Socialist.Ca, December 20, 2014
• It's easier to imagine a zombie apocalypse than imagine the end of capitalism - by Zara Zimbardo, Center for Story-Based Strategy, December 19, 2014
• Low-Wage Legacies, Race, and the Golden Chicken in Mississippi: Where Contemporary Immigration Meets African American Labor History [EXCERPT] - By Angela Stuesse and Laura E. Helton, Species and Class, December 21, 2014
• Man Camps, Detention Centers, and the Whirlwind of Patriarchal Violence - Earth First! Newswire, December 19, 2014
• The spectre of social unrest is haunting Putin’s Russia - By Gabriel Levy, People and Nature, December 17, 2014
• Swiss 'Environmental' Anti-immigrant Plan Defeated - by Ian Angus, Climate and Capitalism, December 18, 2014; [related] Why We Don’t Support the "New Ecology" Movement - Earth First! Newswire, December 19, 2014
• Two dead in explosion, fire at Oklahoma oil rig - Fuel Fix, December 19, 2014
• UK legislators call for an end to forced labour in Eritrea mines - Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, December 19, 2014
• What Greenpeace’s Insensitive Action Means for Climate Justice - by Alexander Reid Ross, Earth First Newswire, December 14, 2014
• What I learned from 30 years with the Forest Service - by Susan Marsh, High Country News, December 17, 2014

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

By Al Engler - Dissident Voice, November 15, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The governing Liberals in BC and Conservatives in Canada insist that jobs, public revenues and economic growth all depend on expanding fossil fuel exports. Christie Clark’s Liberals won the 2013 BC election promising a future of jobs and rising public revenues based on the export of liquified natural gas.  Now two years later faced with widespread protests and declining oil and gas prices, no LNG project has proceeded.

Additional oil pipelines to the Pacific are promoted but only Kinder Morgan is actually proceeding. Here preliminary efforts to double the existing line to Burnaby to carry diluted bitumen from the tar sands have been delayed by blockades and court action. One other project to export to Asia appears to be proceeding; it involves the dirtiest of all fossil fuels: thermal coal.  Port Metro Vancouver, a Federal Agency, has given a permit to ship thermal coal from Fraser-Surrey docks. The coal to be exported is mined in Wyoming and Montana. It is to be transported by rail to the docks, by barge to Texada Island and then by ships to Asia.

This proposal is also facing strong opposition. Fraser-Surrey docks are close to the center of heavily populated Metro Vancouver, directly across the Fraser from New Westminster. The permit is being appealed to the Federal Court by an environmental group, Ecojustice. The City of New Westminster is supporting the appeal as an intervener. City councils in Surrey, Burnaby, and Vancouver have voted to oppose the coal export permit. Communities along the rail route have also expressed their opposition. So has the Sechelt First Nation, whose traditional territory includes Texada Island.

The appeal is expected to argue that proper public hearings were not held;  communities near the port, along the rail lines and shipping lanes were not given fair opportunities to explain their health and pollution concerns. The appeal will make the case that the permit was tainted and should be overturned: Port Metro Vancouver had been instructed by the Harper government not to consider the impact these coal exports would have on global carbon emissions. Why is Canada not bound by international agreements to lower carbon emissions?