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Matt Nykiel’s guest opinion (Daily Bee, Sept. 26, 2017) was filled with misleading half-truths in what now appears to be the Idaho Conservation League’s semi-annual effort to demonize the coal industry and BNSF. Perhaps Matt didn’t know that the week before his opinion was published, the MRL did begin its cleanup of the coal spill in Montana just across the Idaho border. As with any accident, the authorities can impose delays in order to determine the cause of the incident. (See missoulian.com, Sept. 25, 2017). What might be “negligent and irresponsible” is to point fingers and make accusations before all facts are known.

Matt then careened toward the BNSF and flagged “four significant derailments” this year. I was able to locate three this year in North Idaho: March 15, 2017, Grain spill due to mudslide in Boundary County involving the UNP; March 17, 2017, coal train derailment near Kootenai caused by a track wash-out involving MRL; and May 1, 2017, grain spill just south of Cocolalla Lake involving BNSF. To think these are significant is to ignore the Amtrak derailment (people on board) due to a mudslide in Washington state on March 19, 2017. Be honest, please.

If ICL is truly concerned about local “clean water and public safety,” it should activate closer to home and follow through on its concerns about the Sandpoint wastewater treatment plant expressed in a guest opinion this past spring. Fear-filled what-ifs of a railroad accident are less important than a failure in Sandpoint similar to that in Flint, Mich. When does inadequate become irresponsible?

JEREMY CONLIN

Cocolalla