Kinder Morgan’s Port Westward terminal would have exported up to 30 million tonnes of Wyoming and Montana coal to Asia each year. The company projected its investment at $150 million to $200 million with 80 permanent jobs at the terminal and around 150 jobs during construction.

Kinder Morgan announced the decision at a meeting of the Port of St. Helens board of commissioners, the administrators of the Port Westward site on the Columbia River near Clatskanie, Oregon.

The announcement makes the project the third of six original coal export terminals in the northwest to be shelved or cancelled. Together, the three abandoned projects represented up to $550 million in investment, 305 permanent jobs and nearly 50 million tonnes of coal destined for Asia.

Progress continues on proposed ports in Boardman in Oregon, and Longview and Bellingham in Washington. All of the terminals are currently experiencing lengthy permit reviews and delays.

Kinder Morgan, a Houston-based terminal and pipeline operator, explored alternatives at the Port Westward industrial park for 16 months but hadn't applied for permits, according to The Oregonian.

Kinder Morgan spokesman Allen Fore attributed his company’s decision to not continue with the project due to site logistics at the industrial park, not surrounding environmental controversy.

Environmentalists have fiercely opposed the development of all of the terminals in the region, claiming that coal dust will impact on the health of local residents and shipping coal to Asia will contribute to global warming.

Fore told The Oregonian that the company would continue to look at other options in the area but at Port Westward they “looked at multiple options and different footprints, but we couldn't find one compatible with the facility we wanted to construct.”