After five years of planning and legal battles, a proposed coal dock at the Port of Morrow in Boardman has been dumped.
The Coyote Island Terminal, part of the controversial Morrow Pacific Project, would have shipped 8 million tons of coal per year down the Columbia River for export to Asia. It was initially pitched by Ambre Energy North America — now Lighthouse Resources — in 2011, promising to add 2,000 new jobs for the area.
However, the Oregon Department of State Lands in 2014 denied a key permit needed to build in the river, citing interference with a long-standing tribal fishery. An appeal was scheduled for later this month before an administrative law judge, but sides instead came to an agreement Thursday. Local tribes, environmental organizations and the states of Wyoming and Montana, which would have supplied coal to the dock, have also signed on to the agreement.
