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
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…
The Coal Export Fight: Negative Implications for Future Dam Removal?
By Doug Steding on
This weekend, Lynda Mapes at the Seattle Times wrote an interesting article on the drop of barge traffic along the Lower Snake River, and how a shift from barge to rail as the means of shipping wheat from Idaho to foreign markets may take away one of the primary obstacles to the removal…
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…