Increasing Export Capacity

Washington agriculture is an export dependent industry that needs to be able to keep product moving to market. The Alliance For Northwest Jobs and Exports is a non-profit trade organization created to ensure that Washington and Oregon have the critical infrastructure needed to do just that. One of the proposed projects by this group is the Gateway Pacific Terminal in Whatcom County. John Stuhlmiller, with the Washington Farm Bureau, talks about why a coal export terminal is important to agriculture.

STUHLMILLER: It’s not necessarily the coal aspect but it’s the fact that to reach our markets we’ve got to have that infrastructure. So coal is another product that moves and can move, and is another piece that there’s the more traffic the better because we’ll keep those lines open, because railroads close lines that aren’t profitable - they’ve abandoned plenty in eastern Washington. By supporting this particular effort we’ll just have that healthy rail system, and that’s what we’ve gotta have.

One of the concerns of those opposed to the GP Terminal has been a fear of it being a “coal only” facility.

STUHLMILLER: Railroads have said, “we will have capacity for ag products as well as coal”, and they have assured us that it won’t be coal only.

There’s another fact to consider.

STUHLMILLER: You’ve gotta have product moving both ways. You’ve gotta get empty cars back, and you’ve gotta get full cars to port. And that’s what will help fill that bill, but it’s not sufficient in and of itself, you’ve gotta have more to build the other facilities. What we’re talking about here is potentially five more export facilities.

The Washington Department of Ecology is holding statewide scoping meetings in December for the Gateway Pacific Terminal Project. For dates, times and locations visit the DOE website at ecy.wa.gov.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.