There's no doubt global energy companies and railroads see profits if Washington and Oregon welcome coal exports. But coal backers say they'll bring large scale benefits including thousands of construction and full-time jobs and millions of dollars in government tax revenues, to towns and regions that badly need them.
According to an analysis conducted for Ambre by Portland based ECONorthwest, Ambre Energy's Morrow Pacific plan to haul 8 million tonnes of coal annually from the Port of Morrow to the Port of St. Helens would by itself create more than 3,700 direct, indirect and induced jobs in 11 counties.
That plan calls for hauling coal on covered barges from the Port of Morrow near Boardman, Ore. 190 miles down the Columbia River to the Port of St. Helens, Ore where it would be loaded onto vessels headed for Asia. In Clark County, where unemployment hovers around 9.4%, Vancouver based Tidewater Barge Lines Inc would benefit from the coal rush. The 80 year old operator of barges and tugboats expects to be chosen for the Morrow Pacific plan.
If it works out, Tidewater would deploy its tugs to guide coal filled barges between the Morrow and St. Helens ports. It would build as many as nine new boats to do the work and add as many as 90 workers to its staff. Tidewater now employs 235 people.
Mr Dennis McVicker president & CEO of Tidewater said that his company pays its workers high wages, and the mostly unionized new jobs that would come with the Morrow Pacific project would pay well, too. Most of these people are going to be boat operators or deck mechanics or maintenance people. It's a big project, and Tidewater is the biggest barge operator on this river system."
Mr McVicker said that optimistically, Ambre could start moving coal in 2013. What's more likely is that the company would secure permits by 2013 and begin operations in mid 2014.
According to an economic impact study conducted for the company by Seattle consultant BERK, for Cowlitz County, where unemployment is 11.2%, a coal exporting plan by Millennium Bulk Terminals Longview LLC would translate into 2,650 construction jobs and 135 permanent full time jobs at full build out.
Millennium Bulk Terminals' coal-exporting operation would encompass more than 100 acres of 416 acre site where the company also plans to improve an existing bulk import export terminal and to clean up an environmental mess left by former industrial operators.
Mr Ken Miller president & CEO of Millennium said that "We are excited about redeveloping an old brownfield industrial site into a vibrant working waterfront."
The economic impact study conducted by BERK said that Millennium's coal export terminal would generate new and significant jobs, wages, output and tax revenue and that the majority of new jobs created by the project would be filled from the local labor pool.
Last year, Millennium withdrew a permit to export 5.7 million tonnes of coal after internal emails revealed the company planned to ship 80 million tonnes causing some anti coal activists to declare the company untrustworthy.
Mr Miller said that the company withdrew its initial plans after it realized an environmental impact statement would be required to obtain permits. That led the company to step back and study what the whole of this property will do.
Source - Columbian.com
(www.coalguru.com)
