Coal and oil: A mix to fuel NW fears

Allison Roberts News

The masses that stormed the gates of Big Coal in 2013 are turning their fury on Big Oil as the new year opens and the Pacific Northwest considers a future as a massive pipeline on rails connecting the fossil-fuel deposits of Wyoming and North Dakota to the furnaces and factories of Asia. Tens of thousands of regional citizens testified at …

China Exports Pollution to U.S., Study Finds

Allison Roberts News

BEIJING — Filthy emissions from China’s export industries are carried across the Pacific Ocean and contribute to air pollution in the Western United States, according to a paper published Monday by a prominent American science journal. The research is the first to quantify how air pollution in the United States is affected by China’s production of goods for export and …

Colombia blocks Drummond coal loading after rule breach

Allison Roberts News

Colombia has ordered US-based coal producer Drummond to stop loading coal in Colombian ports until the company complies with new environmental rules. Under the regulations, coal exporters will no longer be allowed to use barges and cranes to load ships. The rules are aimed at preventing spillage and pollution of the seas. Three weeks ago, Drummond was fined $3.5m (£2.1m) …

Goldman Sachs Sacks Coal Terminal Investment

Allison Roberts News

For Immediate Release January 8, 2013 Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners has sold off its remaining equity investment in Carrix, the parent company of Pacific International Terminals (PIT) and SSA Marine (they were 49% stakeholders).   PIT, SSA Marine and Peabody Energy have proposed a 48 million ton per year coal export terminal north of Bellingham, WA at Cherry Point.   If built, …

Environmentalists win a round in coal dust lawsuit vs. BNSF

Allison Roberts News

While it may not be the “major victory” that environmental groups are trumpeting in their press release, the Thursday, Jan. 2 ruling by a Yakima federal judge certainly avoids a major defeat in their lawsuit targeting coal dust emissions from BNSF rail cars rolling through Washington state. Lonny Suko, Senior U.S. District Judge, denied a motion to dismiss the July …

Coal Trains Run into Stiff Resistance in U.S.

Allison Roberts News

Citizens and activists in the U.S. Pacific Northwest are fighting three different proposed coal terminals, including one in Oregon and two in Washington. Meanwhile, three formerly proposed coal terminals have already been defeated. Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign recently cited these defeats as signs of progress in the broader campaign to retire the use of coal plants across the U.S. …

Montana officials should seek facts on coal exports

Allison Roberts News

Just who is Montana Attorney General Tim Fox working for anyway? Recently, he wrote to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Washington urging them NOT to study a proposed coal port’s impacts on Montana. The proposed Millenium Bulk Terminal at Longview, Washington, would ship about 48 million tons of Wyoming and Montana coal to Asia annually. …

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 …

State receives record 163,000 comments for Millennium project

Allison Roberts News

Regulators have received 163,000 comments on the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminals coal dock west of Longview — likely the biggest public response to a project in state history. The latest Friday count surpasses the 124,000 comments received by the state Department of Ecology early this year for a proposed coal dock in Whatcom County. Read the whole story here.

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 …