This is a huge victory.
Congrats and blessings to the First nations and all organizations and individuals who have opposed this for so long. Thanks to a State that is standing up to help take the lead when the national government is hobbled.
Project on the Columbia River at Longview would have exported coal mined from Wyoming and Montana and shipped by train to destinations in Asia.
‘Last year, a separate project to build a coal-export terminal at Cherry Point, in Whatcom County, was denied a federal Army Corps of Engineers permit, a decision based on protection of tribal treaty fishing rights’ — Seattle Times
komonews.com/…
The Department of Ecology rejected a water quality permit that Millennium Bulk Terminals sought because the proposed facility near the city of Longview would have caused "significant and unavoidable harm" to the environment. The department cited effects to air quality, noise pollution and tribal resources, among others.
"There are simply too many unavoidable and negative environmental effects for the project to move forward," Ecology Director Maia Bellon said in a statement.
Millennium Bulk Terminals has long hoped to build a facility along the Columbia River to handle up to 44 million tons of coal a year. Trains would carry the coal from Montana, Wyoming and other states, which would be loaded onto ships headed to Asia.
Washington State Department of Ecology Statement Announcing Denial
Key permit denied for proposed coal terminal
On Sept. 26, 2017, the Washington Department of Ecology announced it has denied a water quality permit sought by Millennium Bulk Terminals to construct and operate the largest coal export terminal in North America.
A state water quality certification under the federal Clean Water Act was needed before the company could fill wetlands and dredge the riverbed of the Columbia River. Millennium’s permit application failed to prove it would meet Washington’s clean water laws.
Ecology denied the permit because the coal export terminal near Longview would have caused significant and unavoidable harm to nine environmental areas: air quality, vehicle traffic, vessel traffic, rail capacity, rail safety, noise pollution, social and community resources, cultural resources, and tribal resources.
The coal terminal also would have increased diesel pollution, a toxic air pollutant, and caused an unavoidable increase in cancer risk rates in a neighborhood along the rail line in Longview.
Additional environmental repercussions are detailed in the project’s environmental impact statementpublished in April.
The company has 30 days to appeal Ecology’s decision to the state Environmental and Land Use Hearings Office.
Final SEPA EIS
The Final EIS was issued April 28, 2017. The environmental study is not a permit. It is not an approval or denial of the project. The Final EIS responds to more 267,000 public comments made on the Draft EIS and provides a methodical and unbiased assessment of the probable, significant, and adverse impacts from the proposal. Each comment was read and responded to. Nearly 2,000 people attended three hearings held across the state.
You can read the draft and Final EIS documents and get additional information about the Millennium project at millenniumbulkeiswa.gov.