Wednesday night, commissioners representing the Port of St. Helens, which is on the Oregon side of the Columbia River across from Longview, approved lease options for Kinder Morgan and Ambre Energy subsidiary Pacific Transloading to operate two coal terminals at Port Westward.
About 130 people packed into the Clatskanie Community Center to hear both proposals, which port commissioners cautioned are still in the preliminary stages. Both companies must still obtain building permits to move forward.
Ambre wants to start exporting 3.5 million tons of coal to Asia and later expand to 8 million tons. The company would unload coal from then Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana at Port Morrow in Central Oregon, then unload the cargo onto barges. Workers would then transfer the coal onto ocean vessels at Port Westward.
Kinder Morgan is hoping to build a $200 million coal export dock to ship about 15 million tons of coal annually to Asia, according to the port.
“What I see in this development is positive. We’re going to put people to work here,” said Dan Coffman, president of the ILWU’s Longview-based Local 21, which is negotiating with both companies to work on the docks.