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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State shifting through comments on coal-export project

Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Environmental regulators in Washington are shifting through about 267,000 comments they received on a coal-export terminal proposed along the Columbia River near Longview.

Regulators plan to incorporate those comments into a final environmental review, a process that could take a year or longer.

The Department of Ecology said a majority of those comments were form letters or postcards. The remaining 4,000 or so were submitted online or by mail, or at hearings held throughout the state.

Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview is proposing a project to handle up to 44 million metric tons of coal a year. Coal would arrive by train from Montana, Wyoming and other states to be stored and loaded on ships for export to Asia.

The Army Corps of Engineers, meanwhile, is doing its own separate environmental review of the project. A draft is expected in September.