BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Bellingham lawmakers last night approved a measure asking for an extended assessment of the proposed coal-shipping terminal at Cherry Point.

The measure includes a list of impacts the city wants to see studied as part of the environmental review of the Gateway Pacific Terminal.

City Council member Michael Lilliquist said after the vote at 1 a.m. this morning that the council is "not trying to delay the process."

The City Council’s resolution asks the County, the State Department of Ecology and the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a “programmatic” environmental impact statement analyzing the effects of all coal-shipping terminals in the northwest.

The resolution also demands a third-party study of the potential impacts of the Gateway Pacific Terminal.