The Washington State Department of Ecology has released a draft environmental study on what would be the largest coal export terminal in North America, near Longview WA, scheduled public hearings in May and June, and is accepting comments.
If you care about global warming and environmental health, please attend one of the public meetings or send in your comments.
Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview is proposing to build and operate a terminal that would handle up to 44 million metric tons of coal annually. The proposed facility would bring in coal from western United States with trains, stockpile it at the facility, and then export the coal by ship to Asia.
Shipping around Longview could expand beyond logs and other products to include sending coal to China. Credit: Sam Beebe/Wikimedia Commons
In Environmental study leaves Longview coal port bloodied but still alive, the nonprofit news organization Crosscut quotes Lauren Goldberg, an attorney with Columbia Riverkeeper, as saying:
“The report lays out a laundry list of significant impacts from the project,” she said. “There are number of places where the report identifies the massive amounts of carbon that this project will spew — equivalent to roughly seven new coal-fired power plants. These are stunning impacts for a state like Washington that’s shutting down coal-fired power plants.”
However, she said, the review falls short on mitigation measures that will actually offset the damage from the project, and it fails to fully evaluate the public health impacts of coal dust emissions.
“There’s human health impact study that still needs to be completed and hasn’t been done yet,” she said.
Source: Power Past Coal Coalition
Jan Hasselman, attorney for the Power Past Coal Coalition, says “The review’s findings confirm what the public has said for over six years: This project has significant, unavoidable impacts–from greenhouse gas emissions to traffic delays,” stated . “The Dept. of Ecology acknowledges that moving over 44 million tons of coal in uncovered trains and stockpiling it along the Columbia would harm people’s health and the river. The bad news is the review falls short, relying on unproven mitigation. Now is the public’s chance to weigh-in to say no to coal export in Washington.”
The 45-day public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement includes three public hearings: May 24 in Longview, May 26 in Spokane, and June 2 in Pasco. Comments may be submitted online and by mail anytime during the comment period.
For more information, see
New Assessment Finds Emissions From Proposed Coal Terminal Would be ‘Significant And Unavoidable’, Power Past Coal Coalition
To review the environmental study, find out more about the public meetings, or submit comments, visit www.millenniumbulkeiswa.gov.