Northwest Innovation Works has asked the city of Tacoma, Washington, to halt an environmental review of the firm’s proposed $3.4 billion methanol plant due to public opposition. Company CEO Murray Godley said in a statement on Friday the firm was “surprised by the tone and substance of the vocal opposition” to the project and that it would not “force a facility on a community that does not welcome it.” It is estimated the project would create 260 full-time jobs and 1,000 temporary construction jobs.
The plant would include four methanol production lines with a combined capacity of 20,000 tons per day. Northwest Innovation Works signed a lease in May 2014 for a site at the Port of Tacoma formerly owned by Kaiser Aluminum.
Northwest Innovation Works is a consortium of Chinese companies and investors formed to build methanol plants in the Pacific Northwest. It also has plans to build methanol plants at the Port of Kalama in Washington and the Port of St. Helens in Oregon.
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