According to The Daily News, Cowlitz County officials have given approval for the US Army Corps of Engineers for the agency’s environmental assessment of the terminal plans – an about face from previous plans for the county, state and Department of Ecology to jointly write a report for Millennium.

The USACE said in September that it had changed its opinion on the process, indicating it would share information but that its written evaluation of the project would be its own.

However, rather than slow the process down, one official told the paper it has done the opposite.

Building and Planning director Elaine Placido said progress, which has sped up, could help Millennium’s developers a determination of scope report by mid-February; that report will indicate environmental impacts as well as any required mitigation work.

Public hearings are currently being held to collect input on the project, and the first two gatherings attracted more than 1,000 individuals each. A third was held late Tuesday and two more are planned for October 9 and 7 in Vancouver and Tacoma.

If the project becomes a reality it will export about 44 million tons of coal annually to Asia and provide 130 full-time jobs. There will also be more than 2000 jobs during construction.

Once the comment period ends next month, regulators will need about a year to determine the scope of the review. That will be the guideline for the environmental impact statement.

There were initially six planned facilities but tough market conditions and environmental opposition have proven challenging for terminal developers.

The three proposed developments that remain are the Coyote Island project at the port of Morrow, Oregon, Millennium, and the Gateway Pacific terminal near Bellingham, Washington.

Combined, the terminals would have the ability to ship a projected 110Mt of coal to Asia annually.