EPA Wants Thorough Review Before Corps Approves Coal Export Projects
A proposed new port facility to export large amounts of coal from Wyoming and Montana to Asia "has the potential to significantly impact human health and the environment," the Environmental Protection Agency said in a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers, which would have to approve the project. The project is one of several similar coal export projects proposed in the Northwest.
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The EPA proposed a full environmental review before the project goes ahead, in a letter from its Region 10 office, signed by Kate Kelly, director of the Office of Ecosystems. When asked what the EPA would do if the Corps ignores its recommendations, an EPA spokesman said "we have no regulatory authority" over the process. ... To be clear, we are not opposing this project or other similar projects. We are encouraging a thorough, robust analyst of potential environmental impacts."
The letter (available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com) involves the Port of Morrow project planned by Ambre Energy Inc. along the Columbia River near Boardman, Ore. According to Ambre's web site, the project will ship low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal to the Port of Morrow by train. From there, barges will move it to Port of St. Helens for transfer to oceangoing vessels bound for Japan, South Korea or Taiwan. Ambre has said the Port of Morrow project would create 25 jobs (here).
The $110 million project has been strongly endorsed by officials of the Port of Morrow, Port of St. Helens and the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners. Ambre would move 3.5 million metric tons of coal from its Powder River Basin strip mines for export to Asia, ultimately growing to 8 million tons per year. Supporters see it generating additional port fees, jobs and taxes to support local governments.
The EPA said its two "primary preliminary concerns" are the adverse effects of project-related coal dust, and diesel pollution. It said the coal dust can cause pneumoconiosis, bronchitis and emphysema, as well as affecting water, soil and vegetation, impairing biological processes such as photosynthesis.
The EPA noted that Port of Morrow is one of a least six proposals to export coal from Oregon and Washington, and at least three of them will require permits from the Corps. Similar projects are planned near Bellingham, Longview and Port of Grays Harbor in Washington state. Another is for Coos Bay, Ore.
"All of these projects -- and others like them -- would have several similar impacts," the letter said. The EPA spokesman did not comment on whether that indicated the EPA would also raise similar concerns about the other projects. The EPA did, however, say the Corps should consider "the cumulative impacts" of all of the projects.
The EPA recommended that the Corps "conduct a thorough and broadly-scoped cumulative impact analysis" of the coal exports: "This cumulative impacts analysis could be used in the environmental analyses of other proposed coal export projects of similar scope."
Several environmental groups have said the export of a total of 100 million tons of coal from the various projects could significantly affect the environment. The project is in the initial permit phase at the Corps, which is seeking comments on it.