Washington’s Department of Ecology wants more information before deciding whether to approve a shoreline permit for a controversial methanol refinery in Kalama.
The state agency sent a letter to Cowlitz County on Tuesday that called the submitted permit incomplete. It said some of the proposed site plans were out of date and missing key information. It also said the applicants underestimated the amount of greenhouse gas emissions at the proposed site.
In its application, NW Innovation Works establishes a self-imposed limit of 976,131 metric tons greenhouse gas emissions annually. But in the letter to the county, the Department of Ecology says its calculations found an additional 232,136 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be emitted per year.
“We have been saying for years that this project is harmful to the Columbia River and Washington’s climate,” said Miles Johnson, a clean water attorney with the environmental group Columbia Riverkeeper. “We think that Ecology should be digging down into the details of what this project would look like and double-checking the calculations of the project applicant when it comes to things like greenhouse gas pollution.”