The world’s biggest coal companies want to ship 100 million tons of coal each year to Asia through Northwest ports – spreading toxic coal dust in dozens of our rail communities, clogging our railroads and ports, risking our families’ health, and polluting our air and water. In recent years, coal companies have sought to quickly obtain permits to build export terminals. Our Power Past Coal campaign has stopped them. We successfully blocked proposals through legal challenges, grassroots organizing, and effective communications.  

In 2016, more than 27,000 people demonstrated solidarity with the Lummi Nation, asking the Army Corps of Engineers to deny a coal export permit at Cherry Point based on Lummi treaty rights. The denial of the permit in May 2016 was perhaps the biggest fossil fuel victory of the past half-decade in the country. The action not only stopped this coal export proposal, but also served as a powerful vindication of native rights. In June, our coalition submitted more than a quarter of a million comments opposing a coal export megaproject in Longview, WA, and helped turn out more than 1,000 people to attend public hearings on the proposal.