Coal terminal backers file second lawsuit against state

The suit says the state violated the law by withholding the basis for environmental findings.

  • By Wire Service
  • Tuesday, December 5, 2017 6:41am
  • Northwest

Associated Press

LONGVIEW — The backers of one of the biggest coal terminals in North America have filed a second lawsuit against Washington state over a $680 million coal export terminal.

Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview filed the lawsuit Monday in Thurston County Superior Court against the state Department of Ecology.

The lawsuit alleges Ecology violated public records laws by withholding the basis for its findings in a key environmental impact statement.

A county hearing examiner last month relied on that statement when he denied two shoreline permits that Millennium Bulk needs for its Columbia River coal dock.

Ecology described nine adverse impacts from the coal dock in its report, from noise pollution to an impact on tribal resources. The hearing examiner added a 10th impact — greenhouse gas emissions.

Millennium says the state didn’t provide the modeling data it used to estimate greenhouse gases and particulate emissions.

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