Ultimately, eight elected officials, an Army general and several agency heads hold the fate of the Gateway Pacific Terminal
By Floyd McKay
For Crosscut.com
The last in a three-part series on the Gateway Pacific Terminal.
2015. That’s the earliest we’ll find out if Seattle-based SSA Marine gets to build a giant coal terminal at Cherry Point north of Bellingham, the planned launch pad for shipping some 48 million tons of coal annually to Asian power plants and factories.
Coal at a terminal awaiting shipment. Courtesy of Paul K. Anderson/Chuckanut Conservancy
The stakes are high on all sides. Approval means billions of dollars for the port’s operator (SSA Marine), supplier (Peabody Coal) and shipper (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway). It also means that citizens and municipalities near the terminal and along the shipping route will likely face health and livability issues, and the financial challenge associated with accommodating a boom in rail and ship traffic.
In this final installment of our three-part series on the Gateway Pacific process, we’ll look at who will make the final decision to build, or not to build Gateway.
(To read the full article, go to crosscut.com/2013/01/24/coal-train-part-3-who-decides)
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