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MINUTES <br />Eugene City Council <br />Bascom /Tykeson Room — Eugene Public Library <br />100 West 10` Avenue — Eugene, Oregon <br />October 8, 2012 <br />5:30 p.m. <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Brown, Pat Farr, Betty Taylor, Mike Clark, Chris Pryor, George <br />Poling, Alan Zelenka <br />COUNCILORS ABSENT: Andrea Ortiz <br />A. Work Session: Panel Discussion on the Transport of Coal for Export through Eugene <br />Mayor Piercy opened the meeting, turning the floor over to Central Services Executive Director Kristie <br />Hammitt and Sustainability Liaison Babe O'Sullivan who introduced the four guest panelists: Reedsport <br />Mayor Keith Tymchuk, Dr. Andy Harris, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Ross MacFarlane, Climate <br />Solutions Mission, and David Koch, Oregon International Port of Coos Bay. <br />Each person spoke or presented information for about 10 minutes, sharing their perspective on coal use as <br />an energy form, the transport of coal through the area, market demands, impacts and side effects of <br />shipping coal, climate impacts of both shipping and burning coal as a fuel, reliance on fossil fuels in <br />general, job impacts related to both supporting and not supporting coal transport, costs of coal processing, <br />economic impacts of repeated budget reductions, and environmental and health concerns. <br />The Mayor and councilors asked a variety of questions, attempting to gather as much information as <br />possible. Some of the questions, thoughts and comments are listed below. <br />• Is there a Cumulative Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)? No, not yet. <br />• What about the larger issue of impact to the whole northwest? Limited information at this time. <br />• Why not look at the entire shipping routes, and why not look at all the cargos? Coos Bay has <br />done this and more study is needed. Coos County will look at the entire picture, with a full EIS. <br />• How long would the study and discussion of coal transport impacts be? Six months, longer? <br />Maybe 2 years? Senator Ryden asked for an in -depth study of environmental and other impacts <br />of fossil fuel transport. <br />• Regarding dust escaping cars, what safety measures are currently in place? Covered cars, extra <br />tariff costs, covered processing facilities, use of chemical suppressants to reduce dust loss as the <br />trains move. <br />• Regarding the Coos Bay rail lines, what kinds of cargo are shipped? Surely not just coal. A <br />variety of things, but coal is an important commodity for the rail system. <br />• What is the number of miles the coal would be shipped through Oregon? Anywhere from 1, 000 to <br />1, 700 miles total. <br />• Concerns expressed about transporting "big coal" and the ultimate impact of burning coal as an <br />energy source. <br />• Concerns were raised about the global impacts of coal use and the catastrophic impact to the <br />Earth/air /water. <br />• A comprehensive EIS is important and should be done. <br />MINUTES – Eugene City Council October 8, 2012 Page 1 <br />Work Session <br />