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The United States' Pacific Coal Export Pipeline Just Took a Major Hit

Last week, Oregon shut down a key coal export project. But dirty energy isn't going down without a fight.

The Columbia River is the Mississippi of the West and then some. Where I live just over an hour east of Portland at the bottom of the Columbia River Gorge, you'll find in addition to the river itself, a pair of busy highways on each bank and a pair of likewise busy railroad lines, including the overtaxed Northern Transconn. It's a quiet and devastatingly beautiful place that nonetheless shoulders an incredibly large share of American goods transport, including ever-increasing loads of oil, from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota, and coal.

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It's coal, oil, and the prospect of much more of it that people here are mostly concerned about, particularly new terminal/port facilities either proposed or already underway in the Portland region, along with the Morrow Pacific Project, a proposed coal export terminal on the banks of the Columbia River in eastern Oregon. The project would have trains loaded with Wyoming coal terminate in the small town of Boardman, where their loads would be then transferred to barges, which would be sent down the Columbia to yet another facility, where the coal would be transferred again, this time from barges to ocean-going vessels. These vessels would then move that Wyoming coal to emerging energy markets in Asia.

From British Columbia to Washington State to the Gulf of Mexico, communities are saying no to coal exports

Last week, the state of Oregon formally nuked the proposal, denying Ambre Energy, the firm behind the plan, a key permit. In a press release, the Oregon Department of State Lands explained that the project, "is not consistent with the protection, conservation and best use of the state's water resources." It's perhaps not the biggest of surprises: in April, Oregon's governor, John Kitzhaber, called on the state agency to do just this.

So, now Ambre Energy is left with a 8.8 million ton export bottleneck (annually) and dwindling local markets for dirty energy, thanks in large part to the natural gas boom. Unfortunately, the 8.8 million is a relatively small number compared to other proposed export projects, including the Millennium Bulk Terminal just downriver from Portland, a massive project (planned to export some 40 million tons annually) currently undergoing environmental reviews. And then there's the Gateway Pacific Project, a proposal that would build an export terminal in Washington near the Canadian border, potentially moving 54 million tons of dry goods per year, most of that being coal.

Both of these proposals remain on the table. And for reference, their total export capacities together add up to just under the total coal exports for the entire country in 2013, most of which departed from East Coast ports to destinations in Europe. It's debatable as to just how much of a dent the Morrow project denial will have in the overall energy landscape.

The Sierra Club, obviously a vocal opponent of all of the projects, sees the denial in terms of momentum. "This decision will only catalyze local movements against coal exports throughout North America," said the Club's Devin Martin. "From British Columbia to Washington State to the Gulf of Mexico, communities are saying no to coal exports."

Meanwhile, Amber Energy called the permit denial for Morrow Pacific "political" and pledged to push on however it can. The firm has 21 days to file an appeal.