Here is Where Those Montana Coal Trains Are Headed

If coal is dead, then why did I just see a train load full of coal just roll past my house? And where is that coal headed?

Those were some great messages that we got from some of our radio listeners recently.

On Friday, I heard some answers. I attended a great rally for Montana coal in Roundup, Montana. It was put on by Mayor Sandra Jones. Several speakers were there- including former State Rep. Alan Olson (R-Roundup), who was instrumental in getting the mine South of Roundup up and running.

One of the speakers was with Global Coal Sales Group, which markets Signal Peak Energy coal from the Bull Mountains Mine near Roundup. He told the crowd about the 500 trains of coal that head west to Vancouver, British Columbia. The coal is shipped to places like Japan, South Korea, Chile, and the United States- with about 5 million of the 7 million tons of coal heading to Japan. A video from GlobalCoalSales.com is included below.

According to the video, coal is moved across a 36 mile private rail line owned by Signal Peak Energy under an agreement with BNSF Railway. "This rail line interconnects with a BNSF main line at Broadview, Montana. From there, our coal is transported about 1,300 miles (or 2100 kilometers) on a single line haul west to West Shore terminals."
Signal Peak CEO Parker Phipps also spoke at the rally and told the crowd about the 300 jobs at the mine in full time and contract employees. He says a year ago the mine would've closed down, but Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) pressed for amendments to keep the mine up and running with access to coal.

Now, Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) is leading efforts on Capitol Hill to keep the mine up and running. Click here for more info from last week's story previewing the coal rally in Roundup.