Northwest Innovation Works Dissolves Its Oregon Company, Backer of Port Westward Methanol Proposal
Fracked Gas-to-Methanol Company Abandons Oregon Refinery Proposal
Good news! Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW) appears to have folded in Oregon, abandoning its proposal to build a massive fracked gas-to-methanol refinery at Port Westward!
According to a report by Oregon Public Broadcasting, Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW) dissolved its Oregon company in July 2021 and informed the Oregon Secretary of State of its dissolution in September 2021. This should signal the end of NWIW’s plans at Port Westward. However, the Port of Columbia County continues to act as if nothing has changed.
Take Action: Sign onto our letter urging the Port of Columbia County to recognize the departure of Northwest Innovation Works Port Westward LLC and cancel its lease option agreement with a non-existent company. Act now
NWIW once proposed three massive fracked gas-to-methanol refineries in the Pacific Northwest. Each project would have used staggering volumes of fracked gas to produce, refine, and export methanol for use as a fuel or plastic feedstock. Community opposition stopped NWIW’s proposed refineries in Tacoma and Kalama in 2016 and 2021, respectively. Now it appears that NWIW’s Oregon project has failed, as well.
Port Westward is a poor fit for a massive petrochemical refinery, with sensitive wetlands, farms and high-value crops, critical salmon habitat, and a nearby Buddhist monastery. Nevertheless, the community at Port Westward continues to battle heavy industrial development in the form of a proposed renewable diesel refinery, 400-car rail yard, and a proposal to rezone 837 acres of farmland to heavy industrial use. Right now, Riverkeeper is challenging the Columbia County Board of Commissioners’ 2021 decision to rezone Port Westward farmland at the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.
The end of NWIW’s proposals marks a huge victory for tireless local advocates and a broad regional coalition opposed to new climate-wrecking fracked gas projects.
Dan Serres, Conservation Director for Columbia Riverkeeper, offered the following statement:
The Port of Columbia County should formally terminate its lease option involving the dissolved company, Northwest Innovation Works Port Westward LLC. Oddly, the Director for the Port of Columbia County stated on March 17 that NWIW’s lease option is “still in effect.” However, the company named in the Port’s lease option agreement, Northwest Innovation Works Port Westward LLC, informed the Oregon Secretary of State that it dissolved on September 3, 2021. We encourage the Port to cancel the lease option and end any confusion about NWIW’s dead-end fracked gas-to-methanol refinery project at Port Westward.
One thing is very clear: NWIW has no future in the Columbia River Estuary. Thanks to relentless activists in Tacoma, Kalama, and Columbia County, the Pacific Northwest steered clear of three refineries that would have generated millions of tons of climate-changing pollution each year. Community members used research, advocacy, and community organizing to cut through NWIW’s glossy and misleading claims, exposing both the danger of the projects and the importance of the communities and natural resources that could have been harmed.
Columbia Riverkeeper was proud to play a role in these victories and to stand with the people in the Columbia River Estuary who continue to hold the line against mega-polluting projects.
Thank you to our members, allies, and many friends who have supported this work since 2014, when the three refineries were first announced.
Sign onto our letter urging the Port of Columbia County to recognize the departure of Northwest Innovation Works Port Westward LLC and cancel its lease option agreement with a non-existent company.
