To be clear, this is American thermal coal from Wyoming that's being routed through the Westshore coal terminal for export to Asia. US coal terminals are at capacity and projects for new terminals have not been getting regulatory approval.
It doesn't mean we should be accepting coal imports, even for transit though.
We need to petition the government to tax the shit out of coal export until it becomes unprofitable to.
The investor is probably counting on Canada being the slower one to act compared to Washing and California ports might fully phase out first, making his coal route very profitable. Then he can make out like a bandit with the cash earned from ruining our climate.