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Spokane Voters Could Decide On Future Of Coal And Oil Shipments On City's Rail Lines

File photo. An initiative proposed for next year's ballot in Spokane, Washington, would restrict coal and oil transport through the city by train.
David Gubler
/
Wikimedia - tinyurl.com/z7atuch
File photo. An initiative proposed for next year's ballot in Spokane, Washington, would restrict coal and oil transport through the city by train.

Coal and oil trains pass through Spokane daily, but that could change by the end of the year. Spokane’s city council will take public testimony Monday on a proposed ballot initiative that would prohibit coal and oil shipment by rail through specific areas of the city.



The city council is scheduled to decide whether voters can prohibit oil and coal shipment by rail within 2000 feet of Spokane’s hospitals, schools and the Spokane River.

Last summer, the city council pulled a similar initiative from the November 2016 ballot, because of concerns about cost to taxpayers, if it faced a legal challenge. 



Last fall a hearing examiner questioned whether the ballot initiative is constitutional. He pointed to several cases all the way to the Supreme Court that show state and local laws are routinely preempted by federal law. 



Sponsors have opted to proceed based on a number of provisions outlined in state law.

Copyright 2017 Northwest News Network

Emily Schwing started stuffing envelopes for KUER FM90 in Salt Lake City, and something that was meant to be a volunteer position turned into a multi-year summer internship. After developing her own show for Carleton Collegeââââ
Emily Schwing
Emily Schwing comes to the Inland Northwest by way of Alaska, where she covered social and environmental issues with an Arctic spin as well as natural resource development, wildlife management and Alaska Native issues for nearly a decade. Her work has been heard on National Public Radio’s programs like “Morning Edition” and “All things Considered.” She has also filed for Public Radio International’s “The World,” American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” and various programs produced by the BBC and the CBC. She has also filed stories for Scientific American, Al Jazeera America and Arctic Deeply.