Tuesday’s fire at the site of a proposed coal terminal has reignited calls from opponents who say coal and Millennium Bulk Logistics have no place in Cowlitz County.
“(Former owner) Alcoa and the state Department of Ecology need to step up and get this place cleaned up,” said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, a Hood River, Ore.-based environmental group. “And bringing in dirty coal is the opposite of cleaning up the site.”
County officials agreed the site needs to be decontaminated, but pointed out Millennium’s application for a shoreline work permit challenged by coal opponents and later withdrawn by the company would have required just such cleanup work.