Search Results

Chinese customs statistics show that the nation’s coal imports fell 26 percent year-over-year in November. (Yes, the link above is to a page in Chinese, but Google Translate does a nice job with it.) That’s the fifth straight month in which Chinese coal imports have fallen compared to 2013. Through June, the country was actually importing a wee bit more than it did the previous year. But for the second half of...

If you’ve been following the Northwest coal export debate, you’ve probably heard of Ambre Energy—the struggling Australian firm that’s behind two of the three remaining coal terminal proposals in Washington and Oregon. Ambre made headlines back in August, when the state of Oregon denied a key permit for the company’s proposed Morrow Pacific coal terminal project on the Columbia River. But even if you’ve heard of Ambre, you may not have heard of...

It’s been a tumultuous month for proponents of massive coal export terminals in BC, Washington, and Oregon. In fact, there’s been so much news that it’s been hard to keep track of it all. So here’s a synopsis of the month’s biggest stories: Oregon’s denial of the Morrow Pacific coal export project has sent would-be coal exporters into a panic. On August 18 Oregon denied a key permit for Ambre Energy’s proposed Morrow Pacific...

Communities across Oregon and Washington are growing increasingly agitated about the risks of fossil fuel export. Proposed coal terminals generated unprecedented opposition from local residents and, more recently, dramatic increases in oil train traffic have many questioning the grave safety risks associated with a cargo so prone to explode. Yet at the very same time, the state governments of both Oregon and Washington are bankrolling coal, oil, and gas infrastructure....

Across the Northwest, Native communities are refusing to stand idle in the face of unprecedented schemes to move coal, oil, and gas through the region. It’s a movement that could well have consequences for global energy markets, and even the pace of climate change. Now is a good moment for pausing to examine some of the seminal moments of resistance from tribal opposition to fossil fuel exports. Yesterday, the second...

The board president of an environmental group, who is on the board of a second, will soon leave his partnership with a major law firm to go to work full time in support of coal exports, according to knowledgeable sources in the legal community. Bill Chapman, a longtime partner at the law firm K&L Gates, will become president of Millennium Bulk Terminals, the firm that aims to ship 44 million...

Eric Oh, Kinder Morgan. When you’re not busy blowing up gas pipelines, bribing ship captains to dump waste at sea, or spilling coal dust into the Mississippi then you’re probably scheming to build a huge tar sands pipeline to the Salish Sea. And while locals worry about oil spills, you say things like this: Pipeline spills can have both positive and negative effects on local and regional economies, both in...

China gets most of the attention in the Pacific Rim coal export debate, and for good reason. They’re the 800-pound gorilla, consuming more coal than any other nation on earth. Even though the Chinese import only a tiny share of their total consumption, that small share qualifies them as the top coal importer in the Pacific Rim. Still, China isn’t the only important player in the Asian coal market. In fact,...

Every January, we take a look back at the top traffic blog articles of the prior year. 2013 was an exciting year: we celebrated our 20th anniversary; we released an e-book, Unlocking Home, on affordable housing opportunities hiding in plain sight; we called out self-proclaimed “green” PR and law firms shilling for Big Coal; we started to analyze the taxi vs. rideshare debate; we launched the first comprehensive look at...

As Eric mentions below, Goldman Sachs just sold its interest in the Gateway Pacific coal export project to a Mexican billionaire. It’s far too soon to say what this development will mean for Gateway’s prospects. But when coupled with Ambre’s difficulties finding new financing, Goldman’s move underscores an important new reality: Wall Street now views Northwest coal exports as too risky to touch. And for good reason. Pacific Rim coal prices have...