Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) rejected a permit application for the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point in Washington proposed by Pacific International Holdings, LLC. USACE cited interference with the Lummi Nation’s treaty fishing rights as a method of circumventing the private company’s efforts to prove otherwise through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement:

“The Obama Administration has made a habit of randomly enforcing or denying NEPA whenever they please, using it as a tool to push through a leftist political agenda. Upholding treaty rights is just as imperative as providing due process, but for the Administration, NEPA has become a process of convenience. Americans deserve a fair and transparent legal system, not a government that uses everything in their arsenal to suffocate the American coal industry.”­­