Environmentalists worry more U.S. coal will come through B.C. after Wash. port proposal rejected

Local environmentalists are worried more coal could end up coming through B.C. after the U.S. government rejected a proposed coal terminal near Bellingham, Washington on Monday.

The rejection came after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined the terminal would negatively impact the treaty-based fishing rights of the Lummi Nation.

"We're excited for our allies in the United States," says Arie Ross, a Beyond Coal campaigner for the Dogwood Initiative.

But Ross is worried that the decision could mean a renewed reliance on B.C. terminals by U.S. coal companies: "[They] are looking to export through whatever means they can, and the fact that another coal port has been cancelled means that there's [only] two more opportunities to get their coal to market."

Ross is referring to proposed coal terminals in Fraser-Surrey and Longview, Washington.

They are the final two proposals remaining after five other proposed coal terminals on the West Coast — including the the one in Bellingham — were rejected over the last five years.

An existing terminal in Delta, B.C. — Westshore Terminals — is the largest coal export terminal on the West Coast.

Kevin Washbrook, the director of Voters Taking Action on Climate Change, echoes these fears, saying "the pressure to export that U.S. coal through B.C. is only going to go up."

Washbrook's group is involved in a lawsuit challenging the Fraser-Surrey terminal proposal. That development currently only has one out of the three required permits.

"There's a lot of money tied up in coal, and these companies expect the future to be like the past."

Coal in decline

But there's another major issue that puts the future of the proposed coal terminals into question: the coal industry is struggling because of reduced demand from other nations — particularly China — and a shift to other kinds of energy sources to reduce carbon emissions.

For example, the two largest U.S. coal producers — Arch Coal and Peabody Energy — have already declared bankruptcy.

But Washbrook insists that a declining coal industry won't diminish the desire of coal companies to export their product.

"Anybody who's invested in coal is desperate to get whatever they can to market. They'd rather export it and make a tiny profit than just leave millions or billions of dollars of this resource in the ground."

For the time-being, he says his group will continue to oppose the Fraser-Surrey coal terminal and is determined to get its day in court.

Requests for comment from Westshore Terminals and U.S. coal company, Cloud Peak Energy, were not returned.