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LA Times: The West Coast's Largest-Ever Coal Export Facility in WA State?
The LA Times reports
on an interesting conundrum facing Washington State as we consider building the largest coal-export facility on the West Coast: If coal is mined in Montana, shipped from Washington, and burned in China, who's responsible for the greenhouse-gas emissions?
The Cowlitz County board of commissioners ultimately approved the coal facility, which will go through final state review in April, after Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer appeared before the commissioners to argue against a recommendation by the state Department of Ecology's that the state factor in all the greenhouse-gas emissions created by products that are shipped through the state when calculating a product's carbon footprint.
While the state is examining the impact of increased greenhouse gas emissions from truck and rail traffic to the proposed facility, environmental groups want them to go a big step further, arguing that slowing coal-based emissions in China starts with stopping coal shipments from U.S. shores.
No state or federal laws require officials to review the greenhouse gas effects that U.S. projects may produce on the other side of the world. But they ought to, say conservationists seeking to halt Millennium Bulk Logistics' proposed facility on the Columbia River at Longview, Wash. They say efforts to shut down coal-fired power plants in this country are fruitless if American coal goes to power plants in China.
The Cowlitz County board of commissioners ultimately approved the coal facility, which will go through final state review in April, after Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer appeared before the commissioners to argue against a recommendation by the state Department of Ecology's that the state factor in all the greenhouse-gas emissions created by products that are shipped through the state when calculating a product's carbon footprint.
Joseph A. Cannon, Millennium's chief executive, said exporting coal would result in no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions in Washington state.
But KC Golden, policy director in Seattle at the nonprofit group Climate Solutions, said a broader review was in order.
"We are really at a huge economic crossroads, and we believe a moral crossroads, in terms of the relationship of our state to this global problem," he said. "Washington is making a choice about whether to become a resource colony for Asian economies, or whether we're going to continue on the path we've begun, which is to transition to a clean-energy economy."
