The first U.S. major coal terminal to open on the U.S. West Coast has received preliminary approval by the Cowlitz County, WA, Board of Commissioners. The approval will allow Millennium Bulk Logistics Inc., owned by Australian – based Ambra, to undertake geotechnical studies in the Columbia River near the town of Kelso, adjacent to the Port of Longview. The company has plans to refurbish an existing loading structure and repair a rail spur that will be used to load an estimated five million tons of Powder River Basin coal annually for export to Asian buyers.

The U.S. West Coast lacks terminals due to the fact that, historically, western coal has been shipped primarily to electrical power plants and steel plants in the Eastern U.S. However, with the upswing in Asian coal markets some export coal has recently been shipped from the Powder River Basin through Westshore Terminal located near the Canada-U.S. border south of Vancouver, Canada. Companies in the Powder River Basin, located in Montana/Wyoming, are slated to also supply coal for the privately owned Kelso terminal.

The upswing in the demand for coal by China, which was a net exporter of coal until 2009, is expected to reach 150 million tons this year. This, together with prices that have hit over $200 a ton have sparked interest by coal mining companies and bulk terminal operators on the U.S. West Coast, particularly the Pacific Northwest.

The development of the coal industry in the Western U.S. has also attracted the attention of environmentalists who argue that, due to global warming, the U.S. should not export coal and its high carbon emissions to energy-hungry countries such as China.