Atmospheric chemist Dan Jaffe was not able to fund his air quality research on coal trains until he posted his proposal on US crowdfunding website Microryza.

A week later the research, titled “Do coal and diesel trains make for unhealthy air?”, was fully funded- a record according to the site’s co-founder Cindy WU.

“We have never seen a science project funded this fast,” Wu told the Seattle Times.

“It happens for things like the Veronica Mars movie, or Zach Braff. But science is normally thought of as too esoteric to attract broad public interest. This is very exciting to us.”

The US website only funds science-based research projects. For a small fee, researchers can post their projects to solicit donations and if the research projects reach their donation target, the funds are collected and released to the researcher.

Jaffe wants to “quantify the emissions and particulate matter concentrations by train type (passenger, freight, coal) for a 4-6 week period during the summer of 2013,” according to the proposal description he posted on Microryza.

Jaffe plans to install an air quality monitor, met sensors and a web camera in the region, ideally in a park along the shoreline or a residential property adjacent to the train line, to produce the data.

He said he will use the data to assess the air quality impacts associated with trains in the Puget Sound region.

“In Washington State, there are proposals to substantially increase the number of trains carrying coal through our region,” Jaffe said.

“Yet we know almost nothing about the impact these trains will have on air quality along the rail lines. Before these decisions are made, it is essential to gather high quality scientific data on the impacts trains currently have on air quality in the region so that we can accurately forecast the environmental impact the increased train traffic would have on our region.”

As of Friday morning, 233 people had funded the project with an average payment of $77.25.

Of six coal export terminals initially proposed, only three continue with the lengthy permit process. Ports in Boardman in Oregon, and Longview and Bellingham in Washington are currently under review.

Yesterday, terminal developer Kinder Morgan announced that it would not go forward with its plans to develop a 30Mtpa terminal at the Port Westward site on the Columbia River near Clatskanie, Oregon, blaming site logistics for the decision.