LONGVIEW — Changing its course, a team of county and state officials have decided to complete a health study of the proposed $680 million Longview coal terminal.
During a meeting Friday morning, members of the Health Impact Assessment steering committee “expressed concern about stopping the (study) prior to releasing the final report,” according to a press release the county issued Friday afternoon.
The HIA Team, comprised of staff from Cowlitz County Departments of Health, Building and Planning and the state Department of Health, had previously recommended concluding the project short of a final report based on the current uncertainty of the proposed project. It is currently mired in permit appeals and challenges.
The steering committee is comprised of opponents and supporters of the Millennium Bulk Terminals project, which would be built at the site of the old Reynolds Metals Co. plant just west of Longview.
“It’s clear that the community-led Health Impact Assessment Steering Committee wants the heath impacts of the coal terminal fully evaluated,” Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky of the environmental group Columbia Riverkeeper said in a prepared statement. “It’s clear that Millennium won’t ever get a permit to operate but the community deserves a complete and thorough process. The Health Impact Assessment will serve as a lasting resource to the county, long after Millennium’s coal export proposal is gone.”
Millennium officials were not immediately available for comment.
The study is attempting to answer 15 questions posed by the committee. The nonbinding, voluntary study is not tied to any permitting processes for the terminal. Among the questions under examination are the effects of coal dust and diesel emissions from the eight round-trip train visits that would serve the terminal daily.
A draft of the study was issued in December.
Opponents of the plant had objected strongly when the county/state leadership of the team announced March 26 that it was halting the study.
The steering committee and HIA Team will meet in early May to address process concerns. Also during that meeting, the steering committee will be confirming their direction to the HIA Team prior to completion of the draft final HIA report.
Millennium has been trying to get the project permitted for about seven years and reports spending $15 million on the process, including the cost of producing an official environmental impact statement that also evaluated the potential health impacts of the plant. Among its findings was that locomotive diesel exhaust would cause an increase in cancer risks in neighborhoods along tracks leading to the terminal site.
There will be a final workshop during the early summer to review the draft final and to complete any recommendations that the steering committee may have.
All materials generated during the HIA process as well as the public comments received to the draft HIA report are available through the Cowlitz County website at http://www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/index.aspx?NID=2329.
‘Friend of court’ brief
Cowlitz County filed a request to a submit a “friend-of-the-court” brief Monday in support of a federal lawsuit against Gov. Jay Inslee’s administration for blocking Millennium Bulk Terminals’ proposed coal terminal in Longview.
The lawsuit, brought by Millennium’s parent company, Lighthouse Resources Inc., alleges that state regulators have improperly denied key permits needed to construct the $680 million coal dock on the Columbia River. The suit also accuses members of Inslee’s administration of impeding interstate and foreign commerce and harboring a bias against coal.
In its brief, the Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office argues against the state’s claims that “multiple state and local decision makers have denied necessary approvals for the project for various reasons, including inability to meet the requirements of state and federal law.”
“We feel that the state has grossly exaggerated the (environmental) impacts” of the project, Cowlitz County Commissioner Dennis Weber said in a phone interview Thursday.
The county argues that as a decision maker, its local discretion was disregarded in November when Cowlitz County Hearing Examiner Mark Scheibmeir denied Millennium’s application for two key shoreline permits.
