Rising coal exports have Montana rail communities braced for worst

Daily Climate: The emissions are unhealthy, the noise insufferable. But it's the wait that can be life-threatening. Every day, 20 freight trains rumble through downtown Billings. Five of those are coal trains – 120 cars stretching a half-mile and carrying 17,000 tons of coal west. The trains bisect the town, cutting affluent north from poorer and predominantly minority south. The city's only two hospitals sit on the northern half of town, and residents fear that one day a long wait – or a train wreck – could...

URL: http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2012/04/coal-trains-montana
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