The coal in question would come from other states and would be heading through California for export.
We used to have a coal-fired electric plant in the tiny town of Advance here on Lake Charlevoix years ago. Freighters laden with coal would come through the extremely narrow Pine River Channel to go through our bascule drawbridge late at night. The rare event would empty the bars around here. would shut down U. S. 31 for hours as emergency and fire trucks would stand by for unlikely occurences. The freighter would have no more than about six feet in between the sides as it made it’s way through our channel. So, I know quite a bit about transporting coal through cities on the way to generating plants. Next time, I’ll tell you about Big Rock Point Nuclear generating plant on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan, constructed in the 1960’s.