Longview coal export

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March 16, 2011 | 3:44 PM | By

Millenium pulls coal export permit, starts over

Sam Beebe Ecotrust/Flickr

A coal-export facility got approval from Cowlitz County to set up shop at a private dock in Longview, Wash. But environmental groups appealed the approval, and now the company has agreed to withdraw the permit application and go through a longer, more rigorous permitting process with a complete environmental review.

Late yesterday afternoon, Millenium Bulk Logistics announced the company is withdrawing its permit for the proposed coal export terminal in Longview, Wash., and starting the approval process over so the company can do “a more detailed evaluation of potential environmental impacts for the full array of proposed bulk material products.”

Joe Cannon, Millenium CEO, said:

“To show our continued commitment as a good neighbor, we will do an Environmental Impact Statement to address concerns that have been raised about this project, and we will ensure that all parties continue to have a voice in the process going forward. We will also do a site capacity analysis to evaluate the impacts of proposed bulk commodities in various amounts – including coal, alumina and cement. We believe this is the best way forward for both the community and the project.” Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Energy, Columbia Riverkeeper, Longview coal export, Millenium Bulk Logistics
March 7, 2011 | 7:18 PM | By

Millenium subtracts coal from Longview permit

Sam Beebe Ecotrust/Flickr

A coal-export facility got approval from Cowlitz County to set up shop at a private dock in Longview, Wash. But environmental groups have appealed the decision, and now the company has agreed to back up and go through a longer, more rigorous permitting process with a complete environmental review.

Millenium Bulk Logistics is backtracking – though not giving up – on its Longview coal export plan. In a press release sent out late this afternoon, the company announced it will retract the coal export terminal from its shoreline permit so the clean-up of the Chinook Ventures site can move forward while the coal project undergoes a complete environmental impact statement.

Washington’s Cowlitz County would head up the EIS – an assessment that project opponents have been calling for since the county first considered Millenium’s shoreline permit. The question now is whether the county will take global climate change into consideration.

Environmental groups protesting the coal export plan say the county failed to consider the global environmental implications of shipping coal to China to be burned for energy. They also criticized the pollution that would be created along the shipping route from the Powder River Basin to Longview. Opposition has grown shrill since documents revealed the company’s long-term plans to ship much more coal through the port than originally proposed. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Energy, Ambre Energy, Longview coal export, Millenium Bulk Logistics
February 24, 2011 | 5:35 PM | By

New Longview coal-export goal: 80 million tons?

Columbia Riverkeeper

Opponents of a coal-export terminal proposed on the Columbia River gathered in Longview, Wash., Wednesday to ask county commissioners to revoke the project's development permit now that internal e-mails have revealed the company's plans to export a lot more coal than stated in its permit application.

Surprise! The Longview Daily News reports coal-export terminal developer Ambre Energy was discussing plans to export 80 million tons of coal a year to Asia. That’s 15 times as much as the company’s current permit applications claim the terminal will export.

The New York Times broke a story last week revealing the company’s plans to export 20 million to 60 million tons a year. But now The Daily News claims to have another e-mail citing an even larger figure:

“Last week, internal company e-mails revealed that executive at Ambre Energy, which owns Millennium, intended to expand to handle 20 million or 60 million tons of coal, making it the West Coast’s largest coal terminal.

However, in a Dec. 22, 2010 e-mail, Ambre CEO Edek Choros wrote that the company would need to expand the size of conveyor belts and improve other operations to be able to export 80 million tons of coal through the site annually.”

Project opponents in Longview on Tuesday staged a protest to get the Cowlitz County Commission to revoke the company’s development permit. Others gathered at Ambre Energy headquarters in Salt Lake City on Wednesday to oppose the terminal. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Energy, Ambre Energy, Longview coal export
February 23, 2011 | 12:30 PM | By

Anti-coal export protesters gather in Salt Lake City

Opposition to Ambre Energy’s proposed coal-export terminal in Longview, Wash., is growing to new heights today with a protest at the company’s headquarters in Salt Lake City.

From project opponents at the Rainforest Action Network:

SALT LAKE CITY—Today a coalition of local air quality, climate and labor groups confronted Ambre Energy at the company’s U.S. headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City.  Australia’s Ambre Energy has found itself the center of controversy as it begins a major push to build the U.S.’s first west coast facility for exporting coal, an export terminal on the Columbia River in Longview, Washington.

“From cradle to grave, coal is dirty, dangerous and outdated. It is clear that clean energy technologies—ones that don’t spew life-threatening pollution into our air and water—are the way to a prosperous, secure energy future,” said Ashley Anderson of Peaceful Uprising, a Salt Lake City-based climate justice organization.

Last week it was reported that Ambre had discussions of building out the export terminal to ship up to 12 times as much coal as the company had told state regulators (the proposal said 5 million tons per year; discussions suggested plans for up to 60 million tons). Protesters with environmental groups are demanding that Ambre energy quit coal and move into clean energy.

FILED UNDER: Energy, Longview coal export, Rainforest Action Network
January 5, 2011 | 9:59 AM | By

Gregoire on coal export terminal: No shortcuts

Sam Beebe Ecotrust/Flickr

A coal-export facility got approval from Cowlitz County to set up shop at a private dock in Longview, Wash. But environmental groups have appealed the decision, and now the Montana governor is worried the state of Washington might block the project.

OPB’s Tom Banse got Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire’s response to criticism from Montana officials that her state is standing in the way of a coal-export facility in Longview. Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is headed to Washington today to visit the export terminal site, meet the Cowlitz County commissioners who approved the site for development and give Gregoire a piece of his mind.

Schweitzer and others in Montana are worried Washington will use state rules on greenhouse gas emissions to stall or block the export terminal, which would allow Australian company Ambre Energy to ship Montana and Wyoming coal to China.

Banse reports that Gregoire told Schweitzer she will “not get in the way of it,” but that the state won’t take shortcuts in its review of the project, either: “So we’re going to go through the process,” Gregoire said. “We’re going to live by the law of the state of Washington. He needs to be a little more patient.” Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Energy, Brian Schweitzer, Chris Gregoire, Coal, Longview coal export
January 3, 2011 | 4:44 PM | By

Montana to Washington: Let our coal through

Montana’s governor took a shot at Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire last week, after the Washington Department of Ecology requested to intervene in an appeal by environmental groups that aims to stop the Longview, Wash., coal-export facility. Montana officials say as long as the world is going to burn coal, why not make it coal from Montana?

“I’m going to be calling (Gov.) Chris Gregoire, and I might suggest to her that she remind her constituents that they’ve kept their lights on for 30 years with our coal,” Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said.

“Over in Seattle, at every single intersection, on every street corner, they’ve got a Starbucks coffee or a Seattle’s Best, and they’re drinking all that hot coffee and talking about how bad that coal is,” Schweitzer said. “All the while, that coffee was heated with coal electricity that was burned in Colstrip and put in wires and sent to all four corners of that intersection in Seattle for 40 years. That’s fine, how do you do?”

Australia-based Ambre Energy subsidiary Millenium Bulk Logistics has proposed to export coal from the Powder River Basin to China through a terminal in Longview, and it got an approval to move ahead from the Cowlitz County Commission. Environmental groups hate the idea, which is why they appealed the vote.

Washington Department of Ecology, which will have to approve some permits for the project, had asked the county to do more analysis of the greenhouse gas impacts of the project before the agency petitioned to intervene in the opponents’ appeal of the county vote. A state spokesperson said Ecology intervened to be involved the process as a permitting agency.

FILED UNDER: Energy, Coal, Longview coal export, Washington Department of Ecology
December 15, 2010 | 1:05 PM | By

What happens when China reaches “peak coal”?

Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden/Flicker

New reports show China will run out of domestic coal supplies within 38 years while the U.S. has a 245-year supply. That might explain why Ambre Energy wants to export coal from Wyoming and Montana via the Columbia River.

There’s a lot of discussion lately about China’s growing demand for coal, which is becoming evermore relevant to the Pacific Northwest as Ambre Energy looks to build the West Coast’s first major coal-export terminal in Longview, Wash.

China now consumes about 47 percent of coal produced globally while estimates show it has just 14 percent of global coal reserves. Demand has risen by about 10 percent a year for the last decade. And government officials have hinted that it might be time to put a cap on coal production – to prolong domestic supplies, they say, but also possibly because moving it around the country has begun to clog the roads.

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both picked up on a recent report from a Hong Kong brokerage firm that pegged China’s demand for coal as “unsustainable.” The Times reports “peak coal” in China will put pressure on other countries to deliver, and the Journal reports on estimates that China – where 70 percent of energy currently comes from coal – will run out of domestic coal supplies in 21 to 38 years (meanwhile estimates show the U.S. has enough coal to last 245 years). Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Energy, Boardman power plant, Coal, Longview coal export
December 13, 2010 | 1:04 PM | By

Enviros appeal Longview coal-export approval

Sam Beebe Ecotrust/Flickr

Environmental groups are challenging Cowlitz County's development permit approval that paves the way for a coal-export facility to set up shop at a private dock in Longview, Wash.

The Oregonian reports environmental groups are appealing the development permit approval for the Longview coal-export project.

The appeal, filed today with Washington’s Shorelines Hearing Board, and argues the Cowlitz County Commission granted the permit without considering the environmental impacts of burning the coal in China, increased coal mining and transporting the coal from the Powder River Basin to Longview and beyond.

As I noted in the news roundup, Sightline’s Daily Score blog has a discussion of how exporting coal from Wyoming and Montana through the Northwest makes economic sense, and why Longview is the perfect location for companies looking to save money on shipping the coal to China.

FILED UNDER: Energy, Coal, Longview coal export
November 23, 2010 | 12:32 PM | By

Exporting coal: A ‘worst-case scenario’ for some

This New York Times story offers some global perspective on today’s Cowlitz County Commission vote to approve a coal export terminal in Longview, Wash.

The story explains that the U.S. currently ships coal to China through Canada, but that this new terminal proposal is evidence of a global push to feed Asia’s enormous appetite for energy:

Traditionally, coal is burned near where it is mined — particularly so-called thermal or steaming coal, used for heat and electricity. But in the last few years, long-distance international coal exports have been surging because of China’s galloping economy, which now burns half of the six billion tons of coal used globally each year.

As a result, not only are the pollutants that developed countries have tried to reduce finding their way into the atmosphere anyway, but ships chugging halfway around the globe are spewing still more.
And the rush to feed this new Asian market has helped double the price of coal over the past five years, leading to a renaissance of mining and exploration in many parts of the world.

“This is a worst-case scenario,” said David Graham-Caso, spokesman for the Sierra Club, which estimates that its “Beyond Coal” campaign has helped to block 139 proposed coal plants in the United States over the last few years. “We don’t want this coal burned here, but we don’t want it burned at all. This is undermining everything we’ve accomplished.” Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Energy, Coal, Longview coal export
November 23, 2010 | 12:07 PM | By

Cowlitz County approves coal export terminal

Sam Beebe Ecotrust/Flickr

A coal-export facility got approval from Cowlitz County today to set up shop at a private dock near this site in Longview, Wash.

The Cowlitz County Commission voted 3-0 today to approve a permit for an Australia-based company to establish the West Coast’s first major coal export terminal in Longview, Wash.

Millenium Bulk Logistics, a subsidiary of Australia’s Ambre Energy, wants to export 5.7 million tons of U.S. coal to Asia at the Chinook Ventures private port in Longview. The coal would come by train from Montana and Wyoming to be shipped out through the Columbia River.

The county permit is one of several needed before the facility can be established on waterfront property.

Opponents worried about the local and global environmental impacts of the decision say the county gave approval without enough analysis. And they’re looking to the state to weigh in on bigger issues such as the implications of U.S. coal exports for global climate change and air pollution. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Energy, Coal, Columbia River Basin, Columbia Riverkeeper, Longview coal export