To the editor:

What kind of dialogue are our elected local officials having with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway? In addition to coal, we are looking at an increase in product transportation at Tesoro. There is also an additional attempt by Tethy’s to elbow their way into Anacortes. Their product also is transported by trains.

If all these mega corporations succeed in dominating Skagit Valley, life as we know it in this part of Washington will be over. The current ease of our travel for health care, shopping, recreation and work commutes in Island, Whatcom and Skagit counties will become a thing of the past.

Traffic restrictions will be the undoing of residents, homeowners and businesses. Blaring train horns echoing for miles will be unavoidable and unbearable.

Shame on you BNSF — you have turned co-existence with trains from pleasant distractions to a destructive nightmare. Shame on short-sighted, self-serving corporations for being part of a larger problem instead of innovators to a progressive solution.

And shame on all of us who continue to do nothing and believe it can’t happen here. These last few years are proof; there is always a consequence to deliberate ignorance and inaction.

Sonia Harvey

Burlington