The Corps’ Seattle regional branch chief Muffy Walker said the group hadn’t quite finalized its decision.

According to The Bellingham Herald, Walker cited the reason for the delay as "some coordination above the regional level that we had planned on occurring at the end of last week", which ultimately didn't occur.

"It'll be a few more days until we are in a position to communicate our actual statement," he said.

An announcement is expected later this week.

The Washington State Department of Ecology and Whatcom County announced in late July that an EIS study taking at least two years to get to draft stage would be undertaken in conjunction with the US Army Corp of Engineers.

The Gateway Pacific Terminal – proposed by Pacific International Terminals – would provide storage and handling of dry bulk commodity exports, including coal, grain, iron ore, salts and alumina.

To support the terminal and other industries at Cherry Point, BNSF proposes to add rail facilities and install a second track along its six-mile branch line.

At full capacity, the shipping terminal would export 54 million metric tons per annum of bulk commodities – including up to 48Mtpa of coal – and could generate 18 train trips per day and more than 18 Cape size vessel launches per week.

The Department of Ecology said the joint process enabled the agencies to avoid duplication by producing a single EIS to meet all of their statutory requirements.

The Bellingham Herald suggested Walker gave the impression that the delay was due to how the Corps would conduct its EIS process under the narrow structure of the National Environmental Policy Act to balance the much broader scope of the state’s EIS.