Before recessing for the year, the U.S. House of Representatives capped several days of debate by passing comprehensive energy legislation that included a provision prohibiting any federal agency from prematurely halting an environmental review of a bulk export terminal.
The amendment specifically targets the construction of a deep-water terminal proposed for a stretch of industrial land in northwest Washington state. The Gateway Pacific Terminal will provide critical access to Asian shipping lanes allowing goods and commodities, including cleaner-burning Montana Powder River Basin coal, to be more easily sent overseas.
The overwhelming support by the entire U.S. House of Representatives for this amendment introduced by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, sends a strong message about the necessary role of an environmental impact statement in the consideration of a project like Gateway while pouring cold water on confusing efforts by some tribal entities looking to short-circuit the critical and thorough review.
The preparation of an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act is an exhaustive process designed to identify potential environmental, societal and cultural impacts of a project and to give the public time to react before a decision is made. In developing the scope for Gateway’s environmental impact statement, the Army Corps of Engineers held seven public meetings throughout Washington state, collecting more than a hundred thousand comments including those from tribal entities looking to ensure treaty rights would be considered.
Members of the Lummi Nation fish in the waters near the proposed terminal and were very vocal during the scoping process that their treaty rights to those fishing grounds should be a factor under consideration. But they’re not the only tribal entity with an economic stake in the process. Gateway Pacific Terminal is literally the difference between prosperity and poverty for the Crow people of Montana who have an ownership interest in the project and are depending on the terminal for shipping their coal assets to markets throughout the Pacific Rim.
Now in year four of the Gateway review and nearing a conclusion, the Lummi Nation has made a curious demand of the Army Corps. Even though their tribal treaty rights are not being infringed upon by seeing the review process to its end, the tribe is now urging the Corps to forgo the detailed analysis and make a decision without any public participation.
While painless for the Lummis, an inexplicable rush to judgment by the Corps could have a catastrophic effect on the Crow Tribe and their stake in the terminal, which would be the most cost-effective and efficient route for reaching markets in Asia. Zinke’s amendment voted on last week and added to the House-passed North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015 simply encourages the Army Corps to conduct a full environmental review and publish those findings so as not to abrogate any treaty rights — something the Lummi Nation once supported as well.
From the millions of dollars spent to date and the thousands of comments collected about the process, everyone involved in the Gateway Pacific Terminal project would be cheated by ending the process before it is completed — none potentially more so than the Crow Tribe, who are counting on that terminal and the ability to sell their trust resource overseas as a pathway out of poverty.
Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) and Rep. Zinke should be applauded for their stalwart support of the Crow and for pushing for the fair and timely completion of the environmental impact statement to assure all impacts and mitigation possibilities have been considered before a single shovel goes into the ground in Washington state.
