Let’s get this over the finish line. Together we have resolutely stood up to Big Coal for the past six years. Now is our moment to say NO to what would be the nation’s largest coal export terminal. Please submit your comment to block the proposed Millennium’s coal export terminal today.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released their draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed coal export terminal in Longview, WA. This comment period is critical. With your help, we can block the last remaining coal export terminal in the Pacific Northwest.
Last spring, the Washington Department of Ecology and Cowlitz County issued their draft EIS for the coal port and, with your help, we broke records—filing over a quarter million public comments, and packing hearings across Washington State. Each of these agencies –including the Army Corps of Engineers – are responsible for different permits for the proposed coal port and are looking at the environmental impacts through different lenses.
The Columbia River may be many miles away from our homes in the San Juan Islands, but we are all connected by the endangered Southern Resident orcas. Our islands’ icons swim that distance for sustenance – Columbia Chinook salmon (also listed as endangered). The proposed Millennium coal export project, if approved, would increase the number of vessels navigating the Columbia to and from Asia. Any increase in ships, and their hazardous cargo and fuel, elevates the risk of accidents and spills in the river and surrounding coastal waters — salmon waters — further jeopardizing the orcas’ fragile existence.
In San Juan County, our tourism economy and island way of life are inseparable from the fate of the orcas. For islanders, protecting them is both a federal and personal mandate.
This project will also spread toxic coal dust in dozens of Northwest communities, clog our railroads and ports, risk our families’ health, pollute our air and water, and stoke the climate crisis. These negative repercussions will eventually reach our islands. We have the opportunity now to speak up for the health of our county’s environment and economy by supporting the “no-action alternative” for this project.
You can review the draft EIS here.
Now’s your chance to live up to our region’s reputation for standing up against dirty fossil fuels. Please make a comment and support the health of our communities, climate, salmon and Southern Resident orcas.
