BHP posts second straight year of record iron ore production, beats estimates
The world's largest listed miner said iron ore output from Western Australia on a 100% basis was 76.8 million tonnes in the three months to June 30.
Efforts to boost coal export infrastructure in the US Pacific Northwest are running into fierce opposition.
In April plans for a bulk export facility at Coos Bay in Oregon with a 10 million tonnes per year capacity representing $432 million in investments was scrapped.
The Coos Bay terminal was one of six projects in Washington and Oregon with a combined investment totaling over $2 billion to boost coal exports – primarily from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming – to lucrative markets in Asia.
Coos Bay was the second such project to fall by the wayside – in August last year RailAmerica scrapped plans to build a 5.5 million tonne terminal in Hoquiam, Washington.
Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT) at Cherry Point near Bellingham just south of the Canadian border is by far the largest of the remaining four projects with a 48 million tonne coal capacity and another 8 million tonnes of grain or potash.
As the flagship project in the region backed by world number one listed coal miner Peabody Energy, GPT will have to overcome some serious hurdles to be granted Washington state approval given the scope of the environmental review, something the local business community has gone so far calling “bizarre”:
The state review, to be conducted over the course of the next two years, will be far broader than the more traditional federal environmental review being conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
[The Washington state Department of] Ecology announced that the “scope” of its review would include the carbon-dioxide impact when coal shipped from Washington is burned in other nations.
It also will analyze the impact of the coal trains carrying the coal from Montana and Wyoming, and the impact of the additional shipping on international waters. At the time, Ecology didn’t say was exactly how it planned to go about it – or precisely what differentiates coal shipping from any other industrial enterprise in the state of Washington.
But there are plenty who think Washington already has its conclusion in mind – given the fact that green-minded Gov. Jay Inslee is on record against the proposals, calling them the “largest decision we will be making as a state from a carbon-pollution standpoint, certainly during my lifetime.” With Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, Inslee has urged the Obama Administration to adopt a policy blocking coal exports from federal lands.
Continue reading at Washington State Wire.
2 Comments
OldKingCoal
Gov. John Kitzhaber disapproves of burning coal but not, apparently, burning marijuana ? A fine example of good governance. The moochers and destroyers have all but taken over Washington (state AND DC !!!).
Jeff Kropf
Bizarre yes, but not unexpected. Jay Inslee had a track record in the House of being an environmental zealot. The negative impacts of this truly unprecedented study by WA is completely ignored by him and his fellow eco extremists. Their actions which may lead to the non approval of both WA coal export terminals and will have devastating implications for future private industrial investment in WA state. If that happens, high paying industrial jobs will go where they are welcome, perhaps benefiting Oregon, but certainly Canada. What is interesting about Oregon is that we do not have as far reaching state legislation that would allow our Gov (whom I served under in the late 90’s as a legislator) to implement such an expanded scope in an effort to derail the Port of Morrow coal export terminal. Yet, with it likely that he will run for re election to his 4th term, he will need to shore up his credentials with Big Enviro who will give him millions. I expect him and the DEQ to come up with some novel review process that may have the same effect of potentially killing the Port of Morrow project. I hope I am wrong and time will tell. At any rate, WA’s bizarre move will benefit Oregon’s coal export project greatly as it is more likely that it will become active before any WA terminals if they are approved. Unless Gov Kitzhaber…….