Port of St. Helens, on the Columbia River.
Legal documents indicate the Port of St. Helens is talking with a coal export terminal developer, the first sign that Oregon could be in the mix to export coal to meet ever-growing Asian demand.
Also in the game: Port of Morrow, near Boardman. It recently signed a one-year lease option with a subsidiary of Australian coal giant Ambre Energy, to shift Montana and Wyoming coal from trains to river barges, a move that could open more Northwest ports for coal export. Currently, Canada hosts the only West Coast coal export terminals.
Evidence of Port of St. Helens interest in coal stems from a complaint filed by Columbia Riverkeeper, which opposes coal export, asking a judge to require the port to release coal-related documents. In a response, a lawyer for the port said doing so would violate a confidentiality agreement and “would result in the greatest harm to the public interest which can be imagined — a loss of jobs in our community.”