My partner Diane Meyers posted recently on the approval of the Keystone XL EIS, and that led me to thinking about the implications of this document with respect to the Pacific Northwest. The Keystone XL EIS may be an important precedent for energy projects in the Pacific Northwest, notably the efforts to export coal from
NEPA
Why Don’t the New SEPA Rules the Department of Ecology Recently Issued for Comment Include Amendments to the GMA/SEPA Integration Rules?
By Elaine Spencer on
Posted in SEPA
The 2012 Legislature directed the Department of Ecology (DOE) to update the SEPA rules, to increase the exemptions from SEPA analysis, and to modernize the exemptions, recognizing the extensive changes in the substantive regulations that have occurred since the rules were last amended. 2012 S.S.B. 6406. The Legislature gave DOE until December 31, 2012 to…
Coal Fight Update: Washington State’s Unprecedented Expansion of the Scope of Environmental Review
By Doug Steding on
The plot thickens in the coal terminal fight. In my last update on this issue, I covered the Corps’ decision to not consider issues such as rail traffic, coal mining, and shipping outside of U.S. territory, in the Corps’ review of the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal under the National Environmental Policy Act, because the…
Coal Train Opposition in Seattle: Killing the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg?
By Doug Steding on
We’re a week away from a public meeting for the scoping process of the Gateway Pacific Terminal EIS, one of the proposed coal export terminals undergoing NEPA/SEPA review right now in Washington. As I’ve described earlier, these proposals may be the perfect storm of environmental issues: greenhouse gas emissions, transboundary pollution, vessel traffic in…