Millennium Bulk Terminals Longview

Millennium Bulk Terminals in Longview proposed building the largest coal export terminal in North America in Cowlitz County along the Columbia River.

Millennium Bulk Terminals denied water quality permit

In September 2017, Ecology denied a water quality permit because of the project’s potential harm to the Columbia River and surrounding environment.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, Millennium cannot build the proposed coal export terminal without the required water quality permit.  

Decisions appealed

Millennium appealed our permit denial to Cowlitz County Superior Court and the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board. Superior Court dismissed Millennium's appeal, while the Hearings Board upheld Ecology’s decision in August 2018. 

Basis for denying the water quality permit

Since 1972, Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act has given states the responsibility to issue a water quality certification for projects requiring federal permits or licenses. The Clean Water Act directs states to use both federal and state standards in determining whether there is reasonable assurance that a project will not harm water quality.

We reviewed Millennium Bulk Terminals' Section 401 application and found that the proposed project would cause irreparable and unavoidable harm to the Columbia River. Specifically, our review found that the project would:

  • Require driving 537 pilings into the riverbed.
  • Destroy 24 acres of wetlands.
  • Eliminate five acres of aquatic habitat.
  • Increase ship traffic on the Columbia River by 1,680 trips a year.
  • Impair tribal access to protected fishing sites.

Based on these findings and the broader unavoidable significant environmental impacts found in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared by Cowlitz County and Ecology, we rejected Millennium’s 401 water quality certification.

Because we think the environmental harm potentially caused by the project cannot be mitigated, we rejected the application “with prejudice,” meaning that the company cannot reapply to build and operate the same proposal.

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