The Obama administration handed a “big” victory to environmentalists on Monday by rejecting the coal industry’s bid to build a major new export terminal on the West Coast.
“This is big — for our climate, for clean air and water, for our future,” said Mary Anne Hitt, the director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “It’s also big because the U.S. government is honoring its treaty obligations.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in doing its final review of the proposed Washington facility, agreed with the Lummi tribe that approving the terminal would harm its treaty obligations by violating tribal fishing rights and encroaching on ancestral lands.
The proposed coal terminal at Cherry Point has been part of a five-year fight between activists and pro-development interests over its approval.
The terminal would have been used to move U.S. coal to the large markets in Asia.
“The Army Corps made the right choice and did its duty by upholding treaty rights and honoring the U.S. government’s commitment to those treaties,” Hitt added. “Time and again, Pacific International Terminals has shown disregard for the Lummi Nation and its allies, who have for years voiced concerns about the project’s public health, economic and environmental impacts.”
Hitt vowed to continue to oppose coal terminals, saying the “dirty and dangerous projects will not move forward, and we will strive to pursue pathways for justice for all communities as justice was upheld today.”
A number of major coal companies, including Peabody and Arch Coal, were vested in building the export facility. Both companies filed for bankruptcy protection this year given the downturn in coal demand.
“Peabody was banking on this project as a major customer for its coal, and this announcement deals another blow to promises by coal executives that they have a revival on the horizon,” Hitt said.
The Sierra Club, one of the largest environmental groups in the country, marked a major milestone last week with the closure of 100,000 megawatts of coal-fired electricity since 2010.
The Beyond Coal Campaign has been using a variety of strategies, including court action, to shut down coal plants. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor, has been a financial backer of the campaign through his philanthropic group.
