Support a union-built, clean energy project

A new clean energy project along the Columbia river would create more than 3,000 union jobs

CLATSKANIE, OR (April 15, 2026) — Local unions and labor organizations in Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon are urging community support for a new clean energy project at Port Westward on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. The Army Corps of Engineers is currently running a public comment period soliciting feedback from the local community about the project’s development. The project, through NXTClean Fuels, would create more than 3,000 union jobs during construction and several hundred jobs during operation; the company has already signed a labor neutrality agreement.

The deadline to register support is April 20.

From the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council:

For these reasons and more, the NXTClean Fuels Port Westward project has earned the support of the Washington State Building Trades Council and the Longview Kelso Building Trades Council. Members of the LKBTC have been supporting this project for more than five years and have actively participated in local, state and federal permitting comment hearings.

Photo: NXTClean Fuel/IBEW 48

UFCW Local 555 is running an action alert to gather public support. More details on the project are included in their suggested message, which reads in part:

I support NEXT Renewable Fuels (NWP-2020-0038) and their Clean Water Act permit. Specifically, I support Alternative 1, Port Westward Site 1.

Port Westward offers the most suitable site for this project. As the Army Corps is well aware, the Port Westward site is already zoned industrial, and the property NEXT will build on is zoned for industrial development. At this location, NEXT will not require construction of a new dock in the Columbia River or deepening of the river to provide a turning basin. Other alternative sites would have too great of impacts on the Columbia River. There are already appropriate rail facilities and the Draft EIS shows that the community will not be threatened as a result of NEXT developing the Port Westward site. The facility itself is designed to minimize water impacts, including building sufficient berms to contain any incidences that could occur. NEXT will install Best Available Control Technology to minimize regulated emissions. And NEXT will contribute to the net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating more than 7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas every year of operation.

NEXT is also developing a world-class wetlands mitigation project that restores quadruple the amount of wetlands that are impacted. NEXT plans on turning more than 450 acres of commercial timber property back to thriving wetland habitat that will benefit adjacent landowners and the region as a whole. The restored wetlands will attract pollinators and eliminate non-native species. The design will bolster the area’s ability to withstand major storm events, and it won’t impact local irrigation operations.

TAKE A STAND: Register your support for the NXTClean Fuels project by April 20.