Whatcom County, Wash. -- Officials are sifting through more than 124,000 comments on what to cover in an upcoming environmental review for the proposed shipping terminal at Cherry Point.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the State Department of Ecology and Whatcom County ended their four-month comment period on the Gateway Pacific Terminal last month.
Most of the comments were form letters or e-mails from organized comment campaigns.
However, more than 16,000 messages came in with unique wording.
The agencies will likely need several months to consider all of that input before writing an environmental impact statement for the coal-shipping terminal.
Any decisions about issuing permits to build the project will not be made until after the document is complete.
