Coal no boon to Colombian city

SANTA MARTA, Colombia – This historic port city was once touted by the Colombian government as the next Acapulco, with its scenic bay, white sand beaches, colonial history and the ecotourism potential of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, home to one of the largest and oldest pre-Columbian settlements in the Americas.

Then came the coal dust.

Riding high on the global commodities boom, Colombia is reaping an enormous windfall from exports of its high-quality coal, and millions of tons of it are being shipped a year from this sweltering, desert-like coastal area to the far corners of the earth.

But in Santa Marta, officials and residents complain that the only dividend they’re getting is an unwanted one: the fine layer of coal dust spread over much of the town each morning after La Loca, or the Crazy One, blows. That’s what locals call the gusts that scatter the black dust through much of the city — from the poor barrio of San Mart