A 2017 plan for the proposed methanol plant in Kalama
A permitting process for a proposed $2 billion methanol refinery in Kalama is on hold as the Washington State Department of Ecology determined plant backers didn’t adequately address environmental impacts in a study that needs state approval before the project can move forward.
The Department of Ecology announced Oct. 9 that an application from the Port of Kalama and Northwest Innovation Works for a shoreline conditional use permit was incomplete. The application review was put on hold until more information from the applicants and Cowlitz County is received.
Ecology’s review found “significant information missing” from a supplemental environmental study on the refinery project’s impacts, the department said in a statement, and there was inadequate analysis of the project’s potential effects on the state’s environment.
Specifically, Ecology found information lacking in two areas: “specific details on the proposed mitigation plan to address the project’s in-state greenhouse gas emissions, and a thorough, comprehensive analysis of the project’s global and in-state greenhouse gas emissions.”
The environmental study in question was submitted by the port and Cowlitz County Building and Planning Aug. 30, and is in response to a state hearings board decision in 2017 that the original environmental study didn’t adequately address greenhouse gas emissions from the project.
The plant, if completed, would turn methane gas into methanol to be used in plastics manufacturing.
Ecology has given the applicants until Nov. 7 to provide the additional information, according to the department’s announcement.
The department will then either issue a decision on the permit or ask for additional environmental review within 30 days.
