Don’t Limit Coal Impact Study

Allison Roberts News

Attorneys general for the states of North Dakota and Montana have asked our Department of Ecology to limit the scope of its environmental impact statement on building a coal export terminal at Longview. The DOE should resist this pressure. The public comment period — which ended Nov. 18 — on those environmental effects the DOE should review generated more than …

Backers of Longview Coal Export Terminal Lonely in Tacoma at Fifth and Final Hearing

Allison Roberts News

Hundreds of red-shirted opponents of a coal-export facility in Longview packed a hearing in Tacoma Thursday, concerned about local and global spin-off effects of the project. The “scoping” hearing was the fifth and final one in a series of meetings held around the state. Opponents have dominated all of them. By now they have a well-practiced routine, waving signs, handing …

Coal Terminal Hearings Draw 1,000

Allison Roberts News

An estimated 1,000 people filed into the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds on Wednesday to make their best case for or against a proposed coal export terminal in Longview. The meeting was the latest show of force for two well-organized groups that have packed similar gatherings across the state since last month. Opponents, wearing red shirts, decried the …

Some Farmers Say Coal Terminal Would Benefit Agriculture

Allison Roberts News

A number of Mid-Columbia farmers showed support for a proposed Western Washington coal export terminal, saying it would benefit agriculture at a Tuesday hearing in Pasco. About 250 people attended the hearing at the TRAC center to weigh in on an environmental study for the facility, the third of five planned hearings on the Millennium Bulk Terminals project. About 1,300 …

Longview Coal Port Skeptics Want Thorough Study

Allison Roberts News

Inland Northwest residents turned out in force in Spokane on Wednesday evening to persuade officials that a proposed West Side shipping terminal’s potential environmental impacts reach far beyond its site on the lower Columbia River. “The environmental impact statement should include environmental impacts in Spokane,” Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart told representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, …

Longview coal hearing draws foes, backers

Allison Roberts News

About 2,000 people jammed into the Cowlitz Expo Center on Tuesday evening, capping six hours of hearings on a proposed Longview coal terminal in which both sides rallied vigorously but without the incivility law enforcement officials had feared. . . “How much more does my neighborhood have to suffer? … Justice, not expedience, needs to be the guiding light in …

Documents Reveal Army Corps’ Earlier Concerns About Coal Trains And Wetlands

Allison Roberts News

So far, wetlands have not been a central part of the public debate over coal exports. But concern over these ecologically sensitive areas are familiar to the federal regulators who will decide whether to permit coal export terminals. In fact, according to government documents obtained by EarthFix, the Army Corps of Engineers has already studied the issue. And in at …

Guest Column: A crystal ball on coal export

Allison Roberts News

As our community gets ready to discuss the proposed Millennium coal terminal project at public hearings on Sept. 17, wouldn’t it be helpful if we could see the future to know what life near a coal terminal would be like? How far would coal dust spread from the trains and export facility? What would traffic congestion be like with 16 …

Editorial: Time to speak up on coal exports

Allison Roberts News

The lengthy environmental-review process for a proposed coal export terminal is starting. It is vital for the public to get involved, as now is the time when a decision will be made about exactly what impacts will be taken into consideration before granting permits. Unlike the process under way to analyze a similar facility in Bellingham, Wash., in the case …

Lummi Nation’s stance could stop proposed coal terminal

Allison Roberts News

Lummi Nation Natural Resources Director Merle Jefferson says the tribe is ready to send an official letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announcing its opposition to the Gateway Pacific Terminal project at Cherry Point – a move that could stop the federal permit process for the coal terminal dead in its tracks. Read the story here. Read the …