Millennium Bulk Terminals in Longview Important To AG

I’m Susan Allen, I was reading about the proposed expansion of the Millennium Bulk Terminals in Longview, how the ability to ship US coal to the Pacific Rim provides jobs not only in our state but Montana and Wyoming as well. How powerful environmental groups have impeded its progress and how Millennium Bulk Terminals will help the ag community. Really! What do Agriculture and coal have in common? I poised this question to Washington State Farm Bureau President, John Stuhlmiller.

STUHLMILLER: It’s actually a very important issue to agriculture as a whole because we need a world class farm- to -market network, which includes rail, truck, barge. It also includes exports facilities that can handle the product to ship it around the world and this particular facility would provide one more means to ship bulk commodities, regardless of what they are, it can handle other bulk commodities not just coal. So therefore, it helps us with another means of getting to market and it takes some pressure off the existing system. So there are only so many ports and only so much through-put, thus it provides one more place where we can put product through and it helps us speed the product to market which is really really import to agriculture.

So John, how do we in the agriculture community stand up for the terminals in Longview?

STUHLMILLER:So right now it’s speaking to public officials’ especially department of ecology and the county as well, but sharing the strong feeling that we need to have that facility.

The trickle - down effect if we don’t could be devastating to the ag industy.