Bloglander

Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart says he has asked the city's legal staff to see what can be done about the potential increase in coal trains lumbering through Spokane.

Lilac City stands to get a bit dirtier, if several coal shipping ports are built on the coast, which we wrote about in this week's cover story, "Coal Hearted Commerce."

Stuckart says he's trying to see if the city can force coal trains to be covered, rather than riding open as they do now.

"There are so many different levels of problems with these coal trains coming through here, from environmental impacts to health impacts to traffic impact," Stuckart told The Inlander last week. "And the economic impact is pretty negligible."

Stuckart also said that sometime in the next month, the council will probably consider a resolution to oppose an increase in coal trains.

For more on this and other intrigue, you know the secret knock.