Readers react to "Boom Town" (5/4/17), our cover story about the potential disaster of an oil-train explosion in Spokane, and what activists and politicians are doing to prevent it.
Alana Diane: If this happens then maybe people will realize oil is not the future, but the past.
Lancelot Leones: Holy journalistic tripe and media sensationalism. Nothing like pandering to the left's illogical alternate reality.
Glenn Blackmore: FYI the plan is to let Spokane burn. All of you right-wingers, simply Google oil train spill and fire to see what DOES happen with these trains.
Joel Rowbotham: To those of you saying this is leftist garbage, look at the information and statistics. In the last 7 years there's been 9 train derailments involving cars that carried crude and/or natural gas in the U.S. alone that have resulted in oil spills, fires and explosions. The massive increase in these incidents is because the U.S. has been trying to break its dependence upon foreign oil through fracking, tar sands, and more drilling in the U.S. This means more oil and gas is being transported in the U.S. The scary part is the rail companies couldn't make enough of the newer and tougher model cars to carry the crude and gas fast enough to meet demand, so they were pressured into pulling older, more accident-prone models back into service. And that's causing problems. This is a real threat to Spokane because train cars carrying crude and gas from the Midwest go right through downtown Spokane on their way to refineries in Seattle. ♦
Readers react to "Usual Suspects" (5/4/17), our story about local Republicans jostling for position to move up the political ladder.
Nathan Jeffries: Storm is coming.
Isaac Jack Jr.: All suspicious shady characters. Motives seem to be manipulation and financial gain. Good to have higher expectations than with culprits.
Bob Nihilism: This is why [Prosecutor Larry] Haskell won't charge a mentally ill combat vet who shot at Gonzaga ball players in a drive-by. One, it challenges the NRA and Trump admin giving mentally ill vets gun rights back and it makes the VA look like crap because they didn't serve this guy. He's the worst kind of self-serving hack — he risks the public's safety over his own ambitions.
Hask L. Anne: Pretty brazen comments from people who clearly have zero facts on anything going on in our county government. ♦
