Millennium reaches settlement to avoid water quality lawsuit

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By Andre Stepankowsky / The Daily News | Posted: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 8:15 pm



Millennium Bulk Materials will pay a $50,000 penalty, remove a large pile of petcoke and limit its handling of coal at its West Longview site under an agreement to settle an environmental action brought by two citizens groups.

Under the agreement, the company must cover conveyors that handle coal and is prohibited from handling coal for customers other than to continue doing so for Weyerhaeuser Co. It also must move all coal indoors.

In settling, the company admitted no wrongdoing and said the measures it agreed to already were in play before the groups threatened to sue in early August.

The agreement only covers existing Millennium operations at the 417-acre site, formerly owned by Reynolds Metals Co. It in no way affects the company's ability to later apply for permits to develop a major coal export terminal, its stated purpose in buying the facilities on the site from Chinook Ventures in January.

Two citizens groups in early August announced they would sue Millennium for violating the federal Clean Water Act for handling coal and petcoke without a permit. The groups contended the company did not have the proper permits to ensure that stormwater that washes through coal and petcoke — a waste byproduct of oil refining — doesn't run off and pollute nearby waterways.

The two groups are the Longview-based Land Owners and Citizens for a Safe Community and the Vancouver-based Rosemere Neighborhood Association.

Gayle Kiser, president of the Longview group, said Wednesday the agreement ensures water quality is protected and the Clean Water Act is obeyed.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Millennium President & CEO Ken Miller called the group's suit "meritless," adding that he believes the company would have won had the case gone to court, but "the time and money necessary to prevail in court would have taken us away from the important safety and cleanup work that needs to be done at this site."
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