Northwest labor press., May 18, 2012, Page 2, Image 2

Proposed at Port Westward
Columbia Pacific BCTC signs deal to build coal export terminal
CLATSKANIE, Ore. — The Co-
lumbia Pacific Building Trades Council
and Kinder Morgan signed a memo-
randum of understanding May 4 guar-
anteeing that a proposed multi-million-
dollar coal export terminal at Port
Westward Industrial Park will be built
with local union labor under a project
labor agreement (PLA).
Port Westward is located at the Port
of St. Helens, about 60 miles northwest
of Portland near Clatskanie, along the
Columbia River.
At the signing ceremony in the
board room of Plumbers and Fitters Lo-
cal 290 in Tualatin, Allen Fore, direc-
tor of public affairs for Kinder Morgan
Energy Partners, and Marco Ullmer,
head of terminal business development,
asked unions for support in lobbying
public officials and talking to their
members and the community about the
economic benefits such a project would
have in Oregon.
Kinder Morgan’s plan is to transport
coal by railcar from the Powder River
Basin in Wyoming and Montana to Port
Westward, where it will be loaded onto
ships bound for Asia. Fore and Ullmer
said loading will be done by workers
under a contract with the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union, and
that the terminal design will incorpo-
rate “Best Control Technology” that
minimizes or eliminates environmental
impacts to air, land, and water.
“It will be constructed the ‘Oregon
Way,’ meeting or exceeding all regula-
tions out there,” Fore said.
Constructing the terminal will cost
about $200 million and create more
than 150 construction jobs over an 18-
to 30-month period. Once completed,
there will be 80 full-time jobs, with an
annual payroll of approximately $13.6
million.
Morgan Kinder is looking to export
15 million tons of coal a year in a first
phase, with potential for another 15
million tons in a second phase.
The United States has the largest
coal reserves in the world, and currently
Jodi Guetzloe Parker, executive secretary of the Columbia Pacific Building
Trades Council, shakes hands with Allen Fore, director of public affairs for
Kinder Morgan, after signing a memorandum of understanding
guaranteeing that a proposed multi-million-dollar coal export terminal at
Port Westward Industrial Park will be built with local union labor under a
project labor agreement. Attending the signing ceremony were business
managers and representatives of several construction unions, as well as John
Mohlis (standing directly behind the co-signers), executive secretary of the
Oregon State Building Trades Council.
exports 80 million to 107 million tons
of coal a year. According to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration, six
of 11 seaports on the Gulf Coast and
East Coast accounted for 94 percent of
those exports in 2011. Over 65 percent
of total U.S. coal exports last year were
coking coal, which is used in making
iron and steel. Steam coal, used to gen-
erate electricity, comprised the remain-
ing 35 percent of exports.
Currently, Canada has the only coal
export terminals on the West Coast.
However, according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration, last year
4,863,661 tons of U.S. steam coal
bound for Asia traveled by rail through
the Seattle Customs District, which
covers all of Northwest Washington —
including the ports of Seattle, Tacoma,
Bellingham, and Everett — on its way
to the Port of Vancouver in British Co-
lumbia.
Kinder Morgan still is in a due dili-
gence period, meeting with community
leaders to secure the necessary ap-
provals for construction at Port West-
ward. It has the support of the Port of
St. Helens board of commissioners,
who earlier this year approved a lease
agreement.
Other coal exporters are looking to
build terminals at ports in Coos Bay, a
second terminal at Port Westward, and
in Longview and Bellingham, Wash-
ington. If all are successful, it could
boost U.S. coal exports by an additional
157 million tons a year.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber hasn’t
taken a stand for or against exporting
coal, but earlier this month he sent let-
ters to the secretary of the Army, the
Department of Interior, the Army Corps
of Engineers, and the director of the
Bureau of Land Management request-
ing that a “programmatic environmen-
tal impact statement” be conducted for
all the coal export facility proposals un-
der the National Environmental Protec-
tion Act to examine the effects of coal
transport to the West Coast and the use
of coal for electricity production in Asia
before any further permitting or leasing
decisions are made.
“It is imperative that the federal gov-
ernment take seriously its responsibil-
ity to make informed decisions, and
that there be a comprehensive look at
the energy, environmental, and public
health impacts of these proposals be-
fore the nation commits itself to this
path,” Kitzhaber said.
Environmental groups strongly op-
pose exporting coal from Northwest
ports. Two days after the building
trade’s MOU was signed, several hun-
dred activists rallied in downtown Port-
land against the proposed terminals.
Their keynote speaker was Robert F.
Kennedy Jr., president of the Water-
keeper Alliance and an opponent of
coal energy.
Earlier this month, Portland General
Electric rejected Kimber Morgan’s ini-
tial proposal for a terminal location at
Port Westward, saying coal dust could
potentially impact two natural gas
plants it operates there. PGE has lease
control of about 850 acres at the indus-
trial park.
Fore told union officials at the sign-
ing ceremony that media reports call-
ing it a major setback “could not be fur-
ther from the truth.” He said a specific
location has yet to be identified, “other
than it’s at the port.”
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon
as a voice of the labor movement.
4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150,
Portland, Ore. 97213
Telephone: (503) 288-3311
Fax Number: (503) 288-3320
Editor: Michael Gutwig
Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice
Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of
each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-
profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the
Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore-
gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union
members.
Group rates available to trade union organizations.
PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID
AT PORTLAND, OREGON.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a
change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old
and new addresses and the name and number of your local union.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150-0150,
PORTLAND, OR 97213
PAGE 2
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MAY 18, 2012