Federal sites eyed for coal exports
Move would bypass West Coast states’ objection to new ports
BILLINGS, Mont. — President Donald Trump’s administration is considering using West Coast military bases or other federal properties as transit points for shipments of U.S. coal and natural gas to Asia, as officials seek to bolster the domestic energy industry and circumvent environmental opposition to fossil fuel exports.
The proposal was described to The Associated Press by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and two Republican lawmakers.
It would advance the administration’s agenda of establishing American “energy dominance” on the world stage. It’s also tantamount to an end-run around West Coast officials who have rejected private-sector efforts to build new coal ports in their states.
The Washington state governor, a Democratic senator from Oregon and environmentalists blasted the proposal as undercutting local communities opposed to fossil fuel exports.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Zinke cast it as a matter of national security, though he added it’s still early in the process.
“I respect the state of Washington and Oregon and California,” Zinke said. “But also, it’s in our interest for national security and our allies to make sure that they have access to affordable energy commodities.”
Accomplishing that, he said, may require the use of “some of our naval facilities, some of our federal facilities on the West Coast.”
Zinke specified only one site that could serve as an export hub for natural gas: the former Adak Naval Air Facility in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, which he suggested could receive fuel by barge from the North Slope. The base closed in 1997 and has been largely abandoned. Roughly 300 people live in the town of Adak, the westernmost community in the U.S.
Zinke did not reveal government properties that could serve as potential coal ports.
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, called the idea a “harebrained proposal” in a statement Monday, saying Trump should consider that climate change is itself a threat to national security. The Trump administration also has cited national security as justification for keeping domestic coal-burning power plants online, saying it will prevent disruptions of electricity supplies.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden also said the Trump administration was “disregarding the realities around climate change” and “trampling on local communities” that have rejected prior port proposals.
“The federal government should be doing more to invest in clean, renewable energy, not threatening the health and safety of Oregonians by propping up dirty energy investors,” the Democratic lawmaker said.
Groups including the Sierra Club and Northern Plains Resource Council also voiced opposition.
“The military is not a roving force to do whatever Trump finds politically expedient,” said Jan Hasselman, an attorney for opponents of a stalled coal port in Washington state.
Any export site would need access to deep waters to accommodate large ships and enough land to store fuel awaiting shipment. Few such locations can be found on the West Coast, said Joe Aldina, a coal industry analyst with S&P Global Platts Analytics.
With the U.S. coal export market booming in recent months, Aldina said any new port established by the government would quickly fill with coal for shipment overseas. Yet with demand expected to fall over the long term, particularly in Europe, the current high prices for coal are expected to drop.
Resistance to exports — rooted in worries about air pollution, climate change and rail safety — and changing market conditions have resulted in six proposed coal ports in Washington and Oregon being rejected or shelved. A $680 million project in Longview, Wash., was denied a key permit last year by state regulators who said it would increase greenhouse gas emissions and cause “significant and unavoidable harm to the environment.”
Elected officials in coal-producing states argue the rejection of the Longview port, sponsored by Utah-based Lighthouse Resources, violated the commerce clause in the Constitution that says only Congress has the power to regulate international and interstate trade.
Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said she’s spoken with Zinke and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry about using federal facilities — “frankly, to get around some of the unreasonable obstacles that have been thrown up.”
Prior to joining Trump’s Cabinet, Zinke was a Montana congressman and Perry was governor of Texas. Both states are among the United States’ top coal producers.