Puget Sound Energy has canceled a controversial expansion of its liquefied natural gas plant in Tacoma.

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians and a coalition of community groups appealed permits for the project to the state Shoreline Hearings Board. The case had been scheduled for an April hearing, but rather than defend the project, PSE backed down.

“We decided not to go forward with work under the Shorelines permit we received from the city late last year at this time,” PSE said in a prepared statement.

The project was fought by an alliance of conservation and health groups working with the tribe to fight the liquid natural gas terminal since 2019. The terminal has been operating since February 2022. The proposed expansion would have allowed vessels and so-called bunkering barges to load liquid natural gas to power their own ships, but also to transfer fuel to other ships, making them floating fuel suppliers.

PSE operates the facility on the peninsula between the Blair and Hylebos Waterways. The original purpose of the facility was to supply fuel to two vessels operated by Totem Ocean Trailer Express.

The Puyallup tribe fiercely opposed the project from its inception and also opposed the expansion. PSE had sought to get the expansion approved with a revision to its original permit, which the tribe contends was illegal. The City of Tacoma had granted a building permit for the project — since canceled — with no hearings or public process.

The city announced Jan. 12 that PSE had with withdrawn its permit revision request and canceled its building permit for modifications to the dock for its expansion project. Any work to be done under its original permit must be completed by May 2024, the city noted.

The city contends the project did not require a new permit and process — and the Puyallup tribe adamantly disagrees.

“The Puyallup Tribe is relieved that PSE finally canceled what the Tribe continues to insist is an illegal request for a permit revision,” the tribe said in a prepared statement. “The Tribe remains steadfast in its belief that not only is loading bunker barging on the Blair Waterway a new and extremely dangerous use that has not been evaluated for safety or other environmental impacts … but that use of the revision process to a long-past expired original Shorelines Substantial Development permit was illegal.”

The City of Tacoma had processed the project as a permit revision, rather than a new permit. There was no public process or environmental review. That contradicted earlier promises by the city that any expansion would be given a full review, opponents of the project stated.

“The city of Tacoma bent over backwards to do the wrong thing,” said Jan Hasselman, senior attorney for Earthjustice, which represented the coalition of environmental and health groups. “Washington State is committed to phasing out the use of fossil fuels; that is state law, that is who we are and what we have decided to do. PSE has been going in the opposite direction, seeking to market LNG to new customers and for new uses.

“The idea that we would have barges filled with LNG going back and forth in a busy port and Commencement Bay and throughout Puget Sound was never a good idea.”

Lynda V. Mapes: lmapes@seattletimes.com; Lynda specializes in coverage of the environment, natural history and Native American tribes.