Investors drop out of Coos Bay coal port project
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - A California marine terminal management company has until the end of the month to decide if it still wants to try to develop the Port of Coos Bay to ship coal mined in Montana and Wyoming to Asia, now that two of its partners have dropped out.
A document posted on the International Port of Coos Bay website Monday says Mitsui & Co., the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese trading company, and Korean Electric Power Corp., the potential buyer of the coal, are no longer part of the project.
The development was first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Metropolitan Stevedore Company of Wilmington, Calif., known as Metro Ports, on March 5 signed a renewal of its exclusive negotiating agreement with the port, which is good through March 31. The company did not return a call for comment.
Coos Bay is one of five Northwest ports interested in exporting coal mined in Montana and Wyoming to markets in Asia.
Environmentalists have mounted a campaign to stop the shipments, arguing that burning coal in Asia is bad for global warming and acidification of the oceans, and that the huge trains hauling coal are bad for the health and lifestyle of communities along the route.
"They are going to have a lot of difficulty moving forward, because of the infrastructure upgrades necessary both to the rail lines and the bridges and overpasses they are asking the partner investors to foot the bill on," Sierra Club spokeswoman Krista Collard said.
Port of Coos Bay spokeswoman Elise Hamner said the project is still conceptual, and at the end of the month Metro Ports could decide to drop consideration of Coos Bay, move forward, or ask for more time for research.
A 2012 feasibility study for the project estimates that coal exports through Coos Bay could go from 3 million metric tons annually in the first year, to 10 million metric tons in the fifth year. Construction of a bulk marine terminal is estimated at $250 million and upgrades to the Coos Bay Rail Link between Coos Bay and Eugene are estimated at $182 million. Construction would generate 895 direct jobs. Port operations would sustain 82 jobs in the first year and 165 jobs in the fifth.
Other ports pursuing coal exports are Cherry Point and Longview in Washington, and St. Helens and Morrow in Oregon.
A document posted on the International Port of Coos Bay website Monday says Mitsui & Co., the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese trading company, and Korean Electric Power Corp., the potential buyer of the coal, are no longer part of the project.
The development was first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Metropolitan Stevedore Company of Wilmington, Calif., known as Metro Ports, on March 5 signed a renewal of its exclusive negotiating agreement with the port, which is good through March 31. The company did not return a call for comment.
Coos Bay is one of five Northwest ports interested in exporting coal mined in Montana and Wyoming to markets in Asia.
Environmentalists have mounted a campaign to stop the shipments, arguing that burning coal in Asia is bad for global warming and acidification of the oceans, and that the huge trains hauling coal are bad for the health and lifestyle of communities along the route.
"They are going to have a lot of difficulty moving forward, because of the infrastructure upgrades necessary both to the rail lines and the bridges and overpasses they are asking the partner investors to foot the bill on," Sierra Club spokeswoman Krista Collard said.
Port of Coos Bay spokeswoman Elise Hamner said the project is still conceptual, and at the end of the month Metro Ports could decide to drop consideration of Coos Bay, move forward, or ask for more time for research.
A 2012 feasibility study for the project estimates that coal exports through Coos Bay could go from 3 million metric tons annually in the first year, to 10 million metric tons in the fifth year. Construction of a bulk marine terminal is estimated at $250 million and upgrades to the Coos Bay Rail Link between Coos Bay and Eugene are estimated at $182 million. Construction would generate 895 direct jobs. Port operations would sustain 82 jobs in the first year and 165 jobs in the fifth.
Other ports pursuing coal exports are Cherry Point and Longview in Washington, and St. Helens and Morrow in Oregon.
Human beings are fouling their own nest and it's the only one we've got! Climate change is real and repeating the lie that it is not will not change reality. If you have children you care about, please stop this insanity and start promoting energy conservation and development and use of alternative energy in place of fossil fuels.
We are the only ones who can save us.
Coal does not need to be dirty fuel, the particulates can be filtered and pound for pound it has more energy.  Regarding CO2,  making of dry wall and concrete create lots of the CO2.  Calcium Carbonate (million yr old sea shells) gets cooked releasing CO2 making gypsum board and concrete.  Also the big fantasy of Hydrogen, ... Hydrogen is mostly made from natural gas.  To convert water into Hydrogen is not economical, therefore making Hydrogen from Nat Gas creates a lot of CO2.  This is also true with most fuel cells, they don't want to dual convert nat gas into Hydrogen, therefore they directly catalytic convert cleaned nat gas into electricity and creating CO2.  This coal export would have help pay down our foreign debt ($200 million per year), created jobs and pay taxes.  How silly?  The USA Federal Government owe Japan over $1.5 Trillion in debt at ave. 3% interest or $45 Billion in annual interest payments.  Japan have been supporting the USA government for long time.  Twenty years ago they purchased lots of 30 yr treasury bond at 7% interest, today these 30 yr bond have become 10 yr bonds yielding 7%, and they borrow from their own people at 0.6% for 10 yrs.  So the liberals solution is more borrowing for liberal causes and bankrupting our children?
Send the crap to texas. Fit right in with the rest of their dirty oil exports.
Maybe China can get coal from North Korea.
Hot summers itâs global warming.Cold winters itâs climate change.Routine weather itâs ocean acidification.
âEnvironmentalists have mounted a campaign to stop the shipments, arguing that burning coal in Asia is bad for global warming and acidification of the oceans.â
OOPS! The global warming profiteers tell us global warming causes the oceans to release more CO2 making global warming worse.But if thatâs true, it saves us from CO2 causing ocean acidification.Therefore according to their own âconsensusâ global warming is good.You have to be a special kind of person to fall for this web of lies.Remember, the only solution ever offered by the warmists to save us is high taxes.
@Goodwin How about the millions of tons of solid waste produced annually that contains mercury, fly ash, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals in our food, air, and water supply? Every year 24,000 US lives are estimated to be shortened due to this heavy metal release while 1,000,000 world wide are estimated to have had their lives shortened annually. Thats every year in case you missed it. I doubt you believe it due to your dismissive, authoritarian, attitude with anything that would interfere with profits for corporations.
Or, lets talk land use, you ever seen a coal mine and the pollution to streams, rivers, and air they provide? The coal industry is not being shut down by obama, he wouldn't do anything to hurt big business and help US families. He has pretty well established that over the last 5 years. What he has done is encouraged the EPA to come up with new guidelines to reduce the pollution and contain it but, it wont even be an issue for existing plants, it only covers new plants. His clean air policy is nothing more then political theater until the votes are counted. So I guess you can blame obama for any economic business decision that would benefit a company to convert to natural gas and call it "a shut down by obama." It may be convenient but its a lie.
Koch brothers spent millions on their think tanks to produce the echo chamber you listen to and believe and I have just provided you the truth for free. By now, a reasonable person could safely assume that obama is not interested in the environment or the US citizen at all and only caters to big business
Yes, more job and economy killing based on a proven fraud. Obamabots celebrate using their EBT cards to go clubbing.
HIDE THE DECLINE!
YES-S-S! (Fist pump)
We do not need to be shipping coal to China, where they will burn it in dirty coal-operated power plants, spewing massive amounts of pollution into the air to be carried by the jet streams to America.
Kill this bad idea!
Good news. We shouldn't be selling our natural resources to China anyway.
@Duncan Construction Why not? It's not like Liberals will allow us to use them. Obama is shutting down all coal plants.
@Goodwin Got a link that supports your claim that he is shutting down all coal plants?Â