Kinder Morgan is no longer planning to build a coal export at the Port of St. Helens in Oregon, but is still considering exporting coal out of the Pacific Northwest, a spokesman said Wednesday.
"It's not about coal, it's about siting," Allen Fore, a spokesman for Kinder Morgan, said Wednesday.
Kinder Morgan had been conducting due diligence at the Port Westward industrial facility since January 2012 to determine if the site was compatible for a coal export terminal, Fore said. While the site had rail, water, and road access, the company discovered it would not be able to fit the necessary equipment within the footprint, he said.
"We couldn't find a configuration on the site," he said.
The company informed the commissioners for the Port of St. Helens Wednesday that "we won't be taking this to the next step," Fore said. The next step would have likely been pursuing permits.
Fore said Kinder Morgan is continuing to work with its customers and is exploring other possible sites in the region.
The Kinder Morgan terminal is the third proposed terminal to not move forward. In early April, the Port of Coos Bay announced that a 10 million metric ton coal export terminal would not be built at the port after an exclusive negotiating agreement to explore development of a coal export facility was not renewed. Last August, RailAmerica shelved its plans to build a 5.5 million short ton coal export terminal in Hoquiam, Washington, after being approached to pursue a different, non-coal project at the terminal.
Three other proposed terminals are moving forward. The US Army Corps of Engineers is conducting an environmental impact statement process for Gateway Pacific Terminal, planned for Cherry Point, Washington, which could export up to 48 million metric tons of coal, and Millennium Bulk Terminal, a 44 million mt facility planned for Longview, Washington. The Corps is conducting the reviews jointly with county and state regulators for the two projects.
The Corps is also conducting an environmental assessment for an 8 million mt facility at the Port of Morrow near Boardman, Oregon.
