Coal industry's not alone in banking on Pacific coal exports; so are members of the Crow Nation

One American Indian tribe's future could hinge on a major coal company's ability to export its coal. The Crow Nation owns a deposit of up to 1.4 billion tons, more coal than the U.S. produces in a year, but its partner, Cloud Peak Energy, needs to win battles with environmentalists to have six export terminals built in the Pacific Northwest for the deposit to be mined, reports Clifford Krauss for The New York Times. (NYT photo by Kevin Moloney: Half the Crow are unemployed)

"Cloud Peak Energy and the Crow signed an initial agreement in January to develop three enormous coal deposits that are both low in sulfur and produce an abundance of heat when burned — exactly what Asian buyers are seeking," reports Krauss. The tribe could earn $10 million over the next five years, and potentially hundreds of millions of dollars more in royalties and other payments, if the agreements is approved by the Interior Department.

Former Crow chairman Cedric Black Eagle, who began contract negotiations with Cloud Peak, told Krauss, “We understand the issue of global warming, but at the same time, because of the economy of the tribe, we are dependent on coal."

"Environmental groups have made the terminals a central focus in their campaign against the coal industry," reports Krauss. As a result, investors have dropped out of the three of the proposed six terminals. Environmental groups filed suit in a federal court in Seattle against Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway and several coal companies "saying coal dust escaping from trains has polluted rivers and lakes in Washington. The new export terminals, they say, would only bring more trains carrying coal to the ports and increase the amount of dust." (Read more)