The Pattison Group’s Westshore Terminals at Roberts Bank is North America’s largest coal export facility, shipping 24.7 million tonnes to over 20 countries worldwide last year.

Kevin Washbrook of the B.C. based Stop Coal campaign wants those exports to stop. His group has enlisted nearly 300 commitments from British Columbians including folk singer Raffi Cavoukian and Vancouver politician and physician Fred Bass to take direct action to help stop coal exports.

“North American coal exports are shaping up to be the next big carbon battleground, and Vancouver is right on the front lines,” Washbrook told The Hook. “I think this is a pretty compelling story that has been overshadowed in the debate over new coal mines in B.C. and B.C.'s own exports of metallurgical coal -- both of which also need to stop if we are going to survive.”

At an action on the steps of the Legislature in Victoria on January 25, and again at a rally on April 9 in Vancouver, Stop Coal supporters and members of British Columbians for Climate Action called for no new coal exports, including export of U.S. coal through B.C., and a phase out of existing mining.

World renowned environmental author and activist Bill McKibben, founder of the 350.org campaign, who has called in the past for civil disobedience actions to end the burning of coal, was the featured speaker at the Vancouver rally.

“Coal is the biggest source of heat-trapping, global warming pollution,” says Cliff Stainsby, a Cobble Hill resident who participated in the January action at the Legislature.“To have any hope of avoiding runaway climate change, coal needs to stay in the ground. It’s that simple.”

Two proposed new coal export facilities in Washington state are running into opposition, with opponents charging the company developing one of the proposals of misleading state legislators about environmental impacts and planned volume of exports.

The financial and environmental stakes in these disputes were raised last month when the U.S. government announced plans to auction off 2.3 billion tons of coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.

“In our opinion (informed by James Hansen and Bill McKibben), if this much coal is dug up and burned, we'll have gone past the climate tipping point,” Washbrook told The Hook.

“While we pat ourselves on the back here in B.C. for our minor emission reduction achievements, industry and government are working together on a massive 'carbon offshoring' scheme that will cook the planet. Given the pressure to extract and export this coal, we think it's going to take direct action by citizens to shake up the conventional wisdom around this and open up a conversation about the threat it poses to our future," he says.

Tom Sandborn welcomes feedback and story tips at [email protected].