To: US Army Corps of Engineers, WA Department of Ecology, and Cowlitz County Commission
Oregon--Stop coal exports from the West Coast!
I strongly oppose the construction of a coal export terminal at Longview, Washington, which would transport coal on trains and ships throughout the Northwest.
Coal is a dirty and dangerous combustible fuel that coal companies would put in open rail cars to travel through our communities and on massive cargo ships through our marine waters, fishing grounds, and recreation areas. This proposal would hurt my community by increasing congestion and noise with more coal train traffic, polluting our air and local waterways, harming existing businesses, and delaying emergency responders. It would also damage aquatic ecosystems and fishing areas on the Columbia River, harm human health, increase tanker traffic and the potential for shipping accidents and spills, expand strip mining in Wyoming and Montana, and escalate climate change. Coal export threatens the health, public safety, and economic vitality of our communities.
I urge you to consider these impacts in the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement.
Why is this important?
Coal companies Ambre Energy and Arch Coal are seeking to build a coal export terminal, called Millennium Bulk Terminals, in Longview, WA. If we don’t stop it, the terminal would export up to 44 million tons of coal every year in huge ships down the Columbia River, out through some of the roughest and most dangerous ocean waters in the world and across the Pacific to Asia.
The Millennium Bulk Terminals would be the largest permitted coal export facility in the United States. Right now, the three agencies involved in issuing permits (Washington Dept. of Ecology, Cowlitz County, WA, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) are trying to decide which impacts to take into account in their decision-making process.
You can make a difference by telling these agencies just how important it is to deny the Millennium Bulk terminal proposal and keep dirty coal in the ground. Act now to speak out against this dirty business and say NO to one of the three proposed coal export terminals in the Northwest!