US West Coast coal terminal gets initial permit

摘要

The chief of a planned US West Coast coal export terminalrnsays the project is now on the fast track to approval afterrnreceiving an initial permit in July. “We’re now on thernfreeway,” Bill Chapman, president and CEO of MillenniumrnBulk Terminals-Longview, said.rnWestern US coal producers – distant from the US GulfrnCoast and access to the expanded Panama Canal – havernlong sought an expansion of West Coast export capacity,rnbut have been stymied by strong environmentalrnopposition. In the face of declining thermal coal use inrntheir domestic market, owing to competition from cheaprnshale gas and renewables, coal exports to growingrnmarkets in Asia are seen as the answer. Currently,rnwestern US coal exports to Asia have only long-haulrnaccess to terminals in Seattle and Canada, whererncapacity is limited.