Plans to build methanol refinery in Tacoma canceled

Plans to build the world's largest methanol refinery in Tacoma have been canceled.

The end of the proposed refinery in the Port of Tacoma came in a news release from Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW).  A lengthy statement from the company reads in part, “we do not see a way forward with the Port of Tacoma to realize this vision at this location.”

“We’re happy, we’re elated,” said Claudia Riedener, founder of Redline Tacoma, a grassroots organization opposing the refinery. “Most of all we’re really, really grateful to the community in Tacoma.” In recent weeks Port of Tacoma commission meetings were inundated with angry speakers coming out against the refinery.

Residents have sounded off for months about the possible $3.4 billion refinery, which would have been built by Northwest Innovation Works Northwest Innovation Works at the Port of Tacoma.

Vee Godley, the president of Northwest Innovation Works, told the Tacoma News Tribune that regulatory uncertainty was the reason for the cancellation.

The Chinese backed plant would have used natural gas to make methanol, or wood alcohol, which would then be shipped to China to make olefins used in the manufacture of plastics.

The refinery in Tacoma would have been the largest in the world with 260 full time employees according to NWIW. The company said the construction phase would have created one thousand jobs lasting a period of three years.

Backers touted the proposed operation as green industry. Opponents claimed it would damage the environment and endanger residents.

But Northwest Innovation Works barely mentioned the uproar over the plant in its statement announcing its cancellation claiming, “we believe we would have been able to satisfy most of the local citizens' concerns and questions.”

Riedener says she believes the pull out was all about public outcry.

“Absolutely, absolutely,” Riedener said. “If nobody would have showed up at the meetings, if nobody would have said anything this would have rolled down the hill like many projects in the past.”

A statement from the Port of Tacoma following the announcement said, “We remain committed to diversifying our business portfolio and putting the former Kaiser site back into productive use. We will assess how to move those plans forward.”

NWIW continues work on two smaller methanol refineries in the Port of Kalama and Port of St. Helens.

Cox Media Group