NEW ORLEANS — Yesterday RAM Terminals LLC resubmitted its permit application to the Office of Coastal Management within the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. The filing includes two reports — an alternatives analysis and a contingency plan — and comes in response to the agency’s rejection of RAM’s initial application after a judge ruled the state permit was unlawful in late 2014. Submitted within hours of the extended deadline, the application became available this morning.In response to the filing, Grace Morris, senior organizer at the Gulf Restoration Network, issued the following statement:”RAM continues to push its proposed coal export terminal despite facing growing opposition from communities across southeast Louisiana. We’re tired of its games. In this latest application, RAM again fails to address the project’s potential harm to Ironton, one of the most historic communities in Plaquemines Parish, and has the audacity to ignore its effects on a major coastal restoration project.The market for coal exports has disappeared, with proposed projects falling apart across the country. RAM’s reliance on old economic data just doesn’t justify this destructive project.” ###Background: In February of this year the Jefferson Parish Council and the City of Gretna unanimously passed resolutions calling on the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to further study the effects of the proposed RAM coal export terminal on coastal restoration plans and Louisiana communities. In January, the Plaquemines Parish Council denied RAM a building permit.
