The TDN editorial board wants to see more jobs and more investment in our community that will meet current environmental regulations — and this project does. The state Department of Ecology is doing its level best to keep this project from happening with the recently published Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). It’s time for legislators and citizens to stand up to the governor and Ecology and say, “Enough is enough.”

With the Ecology finally producing the draft environmental impact statement, we now have something to analyze before permits are issued. Our first take on the DEIS is: Wow — 3,300 pages. The end-to-end scope, cost and time to produce this report are all unheard of, and one-of-a-kind. No other business we know of has ever been treated this way; a 5-year, $15 million dollar DEIS is unacceptable.

Let’s stand back and look at the proposed Millennium project from a larger perspective. Millennium is a trans-loading project, and just like EGT, Millennium will unload and load material. Millennium won’t mine the coal, won’t buy or own coal, won’t burn coal, they’ll offload rail cars of coal and load it onto ships. This facility is no different than those you find at ports up and down the entire West Coast — except some people in power (think Gov. Jay Inslee) no longer want coal burned. Since Millennium would be loading and off-loading coal, instead of grain or another cargo, this project has been scrutinized more than any other project we know of.

As we mentioned before, Ecology is doing its best to keep this project from happening. The state of Washington is trying to create a landmark precedent with Millennium. In the DEIS, Millennium was told it must submit a plan — and then pay for it — to mitigate 50 percent of all related greenhouse gas emissions. Meaning, one part of the transportation chain is being held liable to pay for mitigating half of emissions of all parts of the process, from mining to burning. Unbelievable. In effect, Ecology has set up another fee and permitting process.

Does Boeing pay for all greenhouse gas emissions once a jet is sold? No. Does Weyerhaeuser pay for all greenhouse gas emissions once wood is shipped to China? Again, no. Does any other trans-loading company in the state pay for greenhouse gas emissions from an end to end perspective? Not that we know of.

The Millennium DEIS is well written and thorough. The DEIS supports Millennium’s contention that coal dust won’t be a problem. Coal dust seems to get talked about more than any other part of this project, but it will not be an issue. As we’ve written in the past, coal trains are passing through Kelso every day and have been for years. Go to the Kelso train station and see how bad the coal dust is. There isn’t any. The DEIS specifically states local air quality will remain better than National Ambient Air Quality standards once the project is built.

Even people who are against coal should support this project. The clean coal mined in the Powder River Basin is better for the environment than coal currently being burned from different parts of the world. The clean coal has lower ash and mercury content than so-called dirty coal. A significant amount of the coal processed by MBT will replace coal currently being burned. The DEIS says about 97 percent of the coal shipped through the terminal will be clean coal “replacing” dirty coal. Let’s face it, coal is going to burned in the world for decades to come, why not have it be from the most environmentally friendly source?

The draft environmental impact statement also mentions how permitting the Millennium project will reduce area unemployment by creating family wage jobs. The document also speaks to the new local, state and federal taxes the project will pay. We appreciate the DEIS acknowledges the positive benefit the project will provide.

We’re tired of seeing businesses like Pro Caliber Sports close because the area can’t support it. We’re tired of saying we can do better — then not seeing anything happen. We’re tired of seeing our state government do everything in its power to squash investment in our community.

It’s time to support the Millennium Bulk Terminals project.