U.S. environmental groups opposed to the Pacific Northwest becoming an international fossil fuels gateway scored a major victory when a Washington state board invalidated two permits for a $2 billion project to manufacture methanol from natural gas and export it to China.
Last week’s decision by the state Shorelines Hearings Board is a setback for the project by Northwest Innovation Works on the Columbia River in the small city of Kalama.
The China-backed consortium wants to build the refinery that would produce up to 10,000 metric tons a day of methanol from natural gas
piped in from North American sources. The methanol sent to China would be used to make plastics and other consumer goods.Washington’s state Shorelines Hearings Board agreed, ruling Friday that officials from Cowlitz County and the Port of Kalama failed to fully analyze the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from the project, including emissions from offsite sources.
The panel reversed two shoreline permits and sent the review back to the county and port for further analysis.
