Description: Challenge to U.S. Corps of Engineers issuance of a Section 404 permit for a maritime export terminal associated with a proposed methanol facility in Washington on the Columbia River.
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Columbia Riverkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 06/16/2021 Order Joint motion to voluntarily dismiss appeals granted. After Developers Terminated Methanol Terminal Project, Ninth Circuit Granted Motions to Dismiss Appeals. On June 16, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a joint motion to dismiss appeals of a November 2020 order vacating U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits for construction of a methanol refinery and export terminal at the Port of Kalama in Washington State. The federal defendants-appellants and intervenor defendant-appellant Port of Kalama filed the joint motion several days after the project’s developer notified the Port that it would terminate its lease. 06/15/2021 Motion to Dismiss Download Joint motion to voluntarily dismiss appeals filed by federal appellants and intervenor appellant. -
Columbia Riverkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/23/2020 Order Download Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment granted in part and denied in part and permits vacated. Federal Court Vacated Permits for Methanol Refinery and Export Terminal, Citing Failure to Consider Indirect Cumulative Greenhouse Gas Impacts. The federal district court for the Western District of Washington vacated U.S. Army Corps of Engineer permits for construction of a portion of a proposed methanol refinery and export terminal in Washington (the Kalama Project). The court found that the Corps’ failure to consider “reasonable foreseeable” greenhouse gas emissions outside Washington and part of Oregon was arbitrary and capricious because the Corps should have considered indirect cumulative effects such as increased fracking and related emissions as well as emissions from shipping methanol and producing olefins (using methanol) in other parts of the world. The court also held that the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by not considering the need to expand the regional gas pipeline system as a cumulative indirect effect of the project. The further found that the failure to prepare an environmental impact statement violated NEPA. In addition, the court found that the Corps did not correctly conduct a public interest assessment under the Clean Water Act and Rivers and Harbors Act because it failed to properly consider the project’s full cumulative impacts and “arbitrarily and capriciously relied on benefits of the Project in worldwide reduction of greenhouse gases [due to reduced use of coal to produce methanol] without conducting an assessment of the detriments worldwide.” The court denied a claim under the Endangered Species Act. 11/12/2019 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Groups Challenged Corps’ NEPA Review for Methanol Marine Export Terminal in Washington. Five organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of a Section 404 permit for a marine export terminal on the Columbia River in Kalama, Washington. The terminal will serve a methanol manufacturing facility. The plaintiffs asserted, among other claims, that the Corps’ “truncated” National Environmental Policy Act review failed to fully consider the project’s greenhouse gas impacts.