Coal train, Bellingham, WA

A coal train heads north through the site of the former Georgia-Pacific mill on the Bellingham waterfront. File photo from the Bellingham Herald.

The company that would build a coal terminal at Cherry Point told a
federal agency it needs more time to respond to a tribe’s request to shut down the project.

Seattle-based SSA Marine said in a May 12 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers it needs about 90 days to respond in full to Lummi Nation’s claims that the terminal and associated vessel traffic would interfere with the tribe’s traditional fishing practices, as protected in an 1855 treaty.

In a separate letter from May 8, Sahlin, SSA Marine’s vice president of project development, said the Corps shouldn’t “rush to judgment.”

More at the Bellingham Herald