Tomorrow a state senate committee will hold a hearing on a bill that would would reverse important protections to Cherry Point.

Cherry Point was the site of the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal that would have been the largest coal port in North America. The Lummi Nation and a number of environmental groups spent years trying to shut the project down. Last year the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sided with the tribe to deny a permit to construct the port. Last month the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) backed up that decision by adding further protections to the site.

SB 5171 would reverse the decision by DNR and require the agency to pass further decisions through the Legislature. The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Parks will hold a hearing on SB 5171 at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 3 of the J.A. Cherberg Building in Olympia. You can also watch the hearing here.

Read a non-partisan summary of the bill here.