Oregon State Rep. Greg Smith was in Hermiston on Tuesday to provide Hermiston Chamber of Commerce members an update on the Morrow Pacific Project and he admitted it has been a frustrating process to get the necessary state permits.
Smith told the crowd that he was there, not as a state legislator, but as a private consultant for Ambre Energy, the company behind the controversial project, which involves constructing a $240 million coal transfer and loading facility at the Port of Morrow.
The plan for the facility is to receive coal from Wyoming and Montana by train. From there, the coal will be moved from the facility by enclosed conveyors and placed in covered barges that will carry the coal along the Columbia River to the Port of St. Helens. At that point, the coal will be transferred to oceangoing vessels and transported to U.S. trade allies in South Korea.
Environmentalists, however, are against the project, claiming it will harm air quality and fish habitat, and are lobbying state regulators to deny the project’s necessary permits. Smith said Ambre Energy is committed to protecting the environment while providing 2,000 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs that pay between $50,000 and $90,000 a year with full benefits. Smith said the company has also committed to contributing 10 cents per ton of coal to Morrow County schools and expects to donate up to $800,000 a year to the Morrow County School District.
But, said Smith, the project is being held up by two permits – one from the Corps of Engineers and the other from the Division of State Lands. Smith said the company is working through the permitting process with the Corps, but there is strong pressure on the DSL to deny the needed Fill Removal permit. That permit is needed for the project to put eight post-like structures into the rivers. The barges will be tied to the posts.
“We’re working closely with (DSL Director) Mary Abrams,” Smith said. “We’re encouraging her to approve the permit. She’s receiving a lot of pressure – a lot of pressure – from folks in the Portland, Salem and Eugene areas. So we need folks to counter that message and say, ‘No, we do support the project.’ It can be done in an environmentally smart way.”
Smith said Ambre Energy has spent the past 30 months trying to get the project moving.
“It’s been an exercise in frustration at times,” Smith said. This past week, however, more than 250 Morrow County residents signed a letter to Abrams indicating their support of the project and urging her to approve the permit.
“As a consequence, Mary has stepped back to take another look at the project,” Smith said. “We’re hoping folks in the Hermiston area will also contact Mary and send that message. The reality is many of the people that will be employed with the project will live right here in Hermiston.”
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