On Earth Day our congressman, Rick Larsen, sent out a message touting his support for efforts to protect our environment, including the laudable statement that “Our focus on keeping our local environment healthy must also include efforts to curb the devastating effects of climate change.”

Having worked in Congress for 10 years, I’m pretty immune to these kinds of constituent messages. But this one is too brazenly hypocritical to be overlooked given Representative Larsen’s unabashed promotion of the Gateway Pacific Terminal for coal export.

Increased transport and use of coal regardless of where it is being burned will only hasten and deepen the changes in our climate that already have begun to threaten the health of the Salish Sea and the livelihoods and happiness of those who depend upon it. Hopefully for our climate and ourselves, by the time Earth Day rolls around again in 2016 Representative Larsen will have recognized that he should be focusing his efforts on ways of reducing, not increasing, our burning of coal and other fossil fuels.

Robert Davison

Deer Harbor