A loaded Boardman bound coal train climbs Montana’s Rocky Mountains at Mullan Pass.
I heard on my way to work Friday that PGE is planning to close the Boardman Power Plant by 2020. PGE has been under tremendous pressure from environmental groups and citizens to close the plant. Studies of the air quality and health of down winders have brought to light issues with burning coal in eastern Oregon. In addition PGE faced modifications to the plant to meet updated clean air requirements. With the effort to clean up the emissions from the plant coming under increasing fire from the public, I think the combination was just too much and PGE decided to cut its losses and move on.
Once the coal plant closes that will mean the end to Boardman bound coal trains. Generally these trains routed over BNSF from the Powder River Basin mines to Huntley, MRL to Sandpoint, BNSF to Lakeside Jct., and finally down the UP to Boardman. I think this interesting routing along the coal cars emblazoned with a rose made the Boardman coal trains a railfan favorite.
Back for more coal
Like most railfans I will miss these trains. On the other hand the environmental side of me is happy to see the polluting plant go. While I’m happy to jump on the bandwagon to remove the plant, the problem I see is most people don’t realize the energy generated by the plant will still have to come from somewhere. Just because PGE closes the plant doesn’t mean the demand drops. It will just have to be satisfied with another source. With that in mind I really would have preferred PGE to invest in the plant to make it cleaner (and keep the trains!) but I think they were going to be in a position where any plan that kept the plant open would have brought more attention than they really wanted. In the end PGE’s decision was probably the best for them from a public relations perspective. I’m curious to watch and see where the replacement energy will come from. Will it be someplace more environmentally friendly than Boardman?
A loaded Boardman coal train slogs it out with Mullan Pass
On the positive side we still have 10 more years to chase these trains. At least theoretically we do. My guess is the plant will not run for 10 more years. The plant previous had mechanical issues so my feeling is once an alternate source of electricity is located if a mechanical failure occurs that will likely spell the end of Boardman Power Plant and the associated coal trains. Get your photos while you can.
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