State board upholds Millennium water quality permit denial

  • By Wire Service
  • Thursday, August 16, 2018 2:05pm
  • Northwest

Associated Press

LONGVIEW — A state board upheld the denial of a key water quality permit for the Millennium Bulk Terminals project.

The Daily News reports Senior Vice President of External Affairs Wendy Hutchinson said Wednesday Millennium plans to appeal the decision.

The State Department of Ecology in 2017 denied Millennium’s application for a Clean Water Act certification, citing “unavoidable and significant adverse environmental impacts associated with construction and operation of the project.”

Hutchinson says Ecology’s decision was based on Millennium’s planned train traffic, not impacts to water quality.

Millennium’s proposal to build a $680 million coal export facility at the old Reynolds Metals Co. aluminum smelter in Longview has been in a permitting battle for six years and is currently tied up in many state and federal legal challenges.

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