On Thursday, July 20 Gary Martin, President and CEO of NAEGA, issued a Clause 20 certificate related to exceptional impediments to transportation in the Pacific Northwest region. The request for certification resulted when impediments to transportation, caused by the closure of multiple rail lines due to rockslides and other events, prevented the forwarding of the commodity to the port to the point where loading was prevented. The panel recommended and the President confirmed that this was a valid cause and NAEGA provided a certificate that established the start of the cause at 0000 PST on February 18, 2017 and the end of the cause to be 1553 CST on February 19, 2017.