Deepwater Terminal

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This article is part of the CoalSwarm coverage of coal exports

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Ambre Energy Millennium Bulk Logistics Longview Terminal

Deepwater Terminal is a coal export terminal at the Port of Houston in Pasadena, Texas, owned by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners. The terminal also handles petcoke. It is served by Union Pacific and BNSF Railway.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners has proposed expanding its existing annual coal capacity at the terminal from 5.4 to 9 million tonnes per year. The expansion was completed in 2014.

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Expansion

On July 17, 2012, coal mining company Peabody Energy announced that, under new agreements with Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, it would gain additional coal export capacity from Kinder Morgan's Deepwater Terminal and Houston Bulk Terminal in Texas. Peabody would also get increased access to the International Marine Terminal at Myrtle Grove, Lousiana. The planned expansions would more than double Peabody's export capacity along the Gulf Coast to between 4.5 million and 6.5 million tonnes annually between 2014 and 2020, according to company officials. Peabody has also secured a rail service agreement with Union Pacific to transport the company's Colorado coal to Kinder Morgan's Houston terminals.

Construction on the expansion was reported as completed in 2014.

Project Details

• Operator: Kinder Morgan Energy Partners
• Location: Pasadena, Texas
• Capacity (Million tonnes per annum): 9
• Status: Operating
• Type: Exports

Sightline Institute reports "track record of pollution, lawbreaking, and cover-ups" at Kinder Morgan facilities

An April 2012 report by the environmental think tank Sightline Institute, "The Facts about Kinder Morgan," , lists a series of legal violations and pollution incidents at various Kinder Morgan terminals. The report includes the following:

• "In Louisiana, Kinder Morgan’s coal export facilities are so dirty that satellite photos clearly show coal dust pollution spewing into the Mississippi River."
• "In South Carolina, coal dust from Kinder Morgan’s terminal contaminates oysters, pilings, and boats. Locals have even caught the company on video washing coal directly into sensitive waterways."
• "In Virginia, Kinder Morgan’s coal export terminal is an open sore on the neighborhood, coating nearby homes in dust so frequently that even the mayor is speaking out about the problem."
• "In Portland, Kinder Morgan officials bribed a ship captain to illegally dump contaminated material at sea, and their operations have repeatedly polluted the Willamette River."
• "Kinder Morgan has been fined by the US government for stealing coal from customer’s stockpiles, lying to air pollution regulators, illegally mixing hazardous waste into gasoline, and many other crimes."
• "Kinder Morgan’s pipelines are plagued by leaks and explosions, including two large dangerous spills in residential neighborhoods in British Columbia."

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