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Fwd: "Mass-ive Mobilization" [overweight coal trucks] & trains

In a message dated 3/12/02 4:35:43 PM Pacific Standard Time, jk5554@YAHOO.COM writes:


Hmmm...I guess coal truck drivers don't think they
need to ~apologize~ or even *respect* safety laws,
even when they're 76,000+ pounds over highway limits.
Not just a few hundred pounds over - - - 76,000 or
more pounds over!

I smell a double standard here.  

====
Radsafe:
Back in 1979 I was involved in preparing a detailed Health & Safety comparison of the coal vs. nuclear fuel cycles for the licensing of a proposed nuclear plant in NY State. One of the interesting bits of information which came out of this report was related to coal mining accidents and deaths among the general public in transporting coal.

Many folks dismiss [or choose to ignore] deaths of  coal miners in accidents in mining coal considering this an occupational risk chosen by the worker. However [at least for stats as of the late 1970s] for every coal miner killed  in an accident, two members of the general public were killed  in collisions between coal transport trains and vehicles and members of the public at grade crossings.

Transporting a bit over a billion tons of coal per year from mine to point of combustion in the US is obviously not without its risks. So what's the bigger risk: The so-called "Mobile Chernobyl" hyped by the antis with fuel and spent fuel in well-designed shipping casks,  or coal transport ["Mass Smash" ??] in grossly overloaded trucks and 100 rail car trains hitting passenger cars and school buses at rail crossings?

Stewart Farber
email: SAFarberMSPH@cs.com