Ambre Energy is asking an Oregon agency for a five-month delay to decide whether the company can start building a coal export facility on the lower Columbia River. Company officials say they’re still on track to start operating at the end of 2014.
In a letter dated Wednesday, Ambre General Counsel John Thomas asked the Oregon Department of State Lands to push back its ruling on a permit to start building a dock at Port Morrow in Boardman from April 1 to Sept. 1.
State Lands officials said in February that Ambre needed to better address the project’s impact on Columbia River tribal fishing, fish habitats and the Port Westward waterfront. Thomas said these analyses should only be necessary for federal permits from the Army Corps of Engineers.