November 30, 2020: Last week, a federal district court in Washington vacated the Clean Water Act 404 permit for the Kalama Methanol project, sending the proposed project back to the Army Corps of Engineers for a full, transparent environmental review.
The Kalama Methanol Refinery is a proposed terminal that would transform gas to methanol for export to China. It would have required about 300 million cubic feet of gas per day — just over a third of what all of Oregon currently uses in a day.
The Court found the Corps had failed to consider the cumulative impact of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the proposal and ignored whether the project would lead to construction of a new regional pipeline. The Court also found that the Corps illegally failed to consider the methanol refinery’s costs to the public, even while the Corps relied on its purported benefits. Due to multiple failures, the Court invalidated federal Clean Water Act permits for the methanol refinery.
The Sierra Club was represented by Earthjustice, with support from our partners Columbia Riverkeeper, Center for Biological Diversity, WA Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Washington Environmental Council. Sierra Club’s work on this case was led by Northwest Campaign Representative Stephanie Hillman and ELP attorneys Nathan Matthews and Rose Monahan, with support from research analyst Lou Finazzo and legal assistant Meral Basit.
Read the Earthjustice press release here.