— by Michael Riordan, updated April 5 at 3:30 p.m. —
Existing piers near Cherry Point. If permitted, the coal terminal would go just beyond the Point.
Five years ago, word began leaking out that SSA Marine was planning to build North America’s biggest coal terminal at Cherry Point, right across Georgia Strait from Orcas Island. Islanders soon organized under the umbrella of the Orcas NO COALition and the San Juans Alliance to oppose this ill-considered plan, writing hundreds of comments during the scoping process for the draft environmental-impact statement (EIS) required.
On April 1, [2016] SSA Marine announced that it was suspending this review process, pending resolution by the Army Corps of Engineers of the January 2015 Lummi Nation request to terminate the proposed Gateway Pacific project and protect its treaty fishing rights. Given the timing of this announcement, I at first thought somebody was pulling my leg!
But it’s true. Apparently, SSA Marine wants to be sure it has a clear path to making and submitting the draft EIS before it spends any more money on the effort. Unofficial estimates put the cost of this effort in the (many) millions so far. Word has it that the Corps will decide on the Lummi challenge later this month, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes longer, given the legal implications.
This announcement comes amidst a deeply darkening future for coal exports — and for the coal industry in general. When SSA Marine submitted its terminal plans in 2011, coal exports were riding high. The benchmark price of Newcastle thermal coal had soared above $140 a metric ton, and China seemed to have an insatiable appetite for the black rock to fuel its electric power plants.
Now China is cutting back dramatically on coal imports and promoting nuclear and renewable energy as alternatives. The benchmark Newcastle price has plummeted below $50 a metric ton and shows no sign of recovery soon.
That about-face has driven a silver stake into the heart of the coal-export plans, which officials had viewed as the industry’s future as US power plants cut back on coal consumption or shut down entirely in response to competition from cheap (often fracked) natural gas and Obama Administration directives. With nowhere to turn for profitable markets, debt-ridden coal companies have had to declare bankruptcy. In 2015 Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal and Walther Energy have gone under, and we are now waiting to hear from giant Peabody Energy.
Thus the Gateway Pacific Terminal has become a dubious proposition from economic perspectives alone, never mind all the environmental and Lummi Nation opposition. SSA Marine may in fact use the Corps decision as a graceful way to exit what has become a costly public-relations nightmare. Stay tuned!
Michael Riordan, co-founder of the Orcas NO COALition, writes about science, technology and public policy from his home in Eastsound.
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Building the Gateway Pacific coal terminal only made economic sense in the short term. If built, it would have long-term detrimental effects on our environment. I am cautiously optimistic that the coal terminal won’t be built because the economic argument can’t sway investors anymore.
That’s great news, Michael! Thanks to everyone who has been involved in this effort. And Craig is absolutely right–the bottom line is always money.
I was listening CBC a day or two ago. They are trying to build the same thing in Vancouver. If it is permitted the trains would come right up the coast Skagit Whatcomand South.
The Canadians are contemplating only a much smaller coal terminal in Surrey, on the Fraser River, with perhaps one tenth the shipping capacity of GPT.