Inslee told Oregon Public Broadcasting, “I found that the review by the Council was extremely thorough and comprehensive and was confident this was the right decision.”
In a letter to EFSEC, Governor Inslee wrote: “When weighing all of the factors considered against the need for and potential benefits of the facility at this location, I believe the record reflects substantial evidence that the project does not meet the broad public interest standard necessary for the Council to recommend site certification.”
Last month, state regulators unanimously recommended that the governor reject oil companies Tesoro and Savage’s application to build a terminal at the Port of Vancouver, while the EFSEC voted unanimously in November 2017 to reject the proposal, submitting their recommendations to the governor.
In his letter to EFSEC, Governor Inslee cited three issues in particular that compelled him to make his decision. One was the threat of a major earthquake in the region. With the public expecting critical infrastructure to be designed to be resilient in a catastrophic event, he wasn’t convinced the project met these expectations.
Secondly, given the proposed location of the facility, the governor was concerned about the likelihood of an oil spill impacting the Columbia River or reaching the Pacific Ocean. The impacts of a spill on water quality, wetlands, and fish and wildlife are such that these risks cannot be sufficiently mitigated and must be avoided.
Governor Inslee wrote he was seriously concerned by the risk that a potential fire or explosion at the facility could pose to workers and the community, noting that emergency responders are unlikely to be able to successfully respond to a major incident at the facility. Inslee, however, insisted in the letter that Washington’s ports would remain open to future trade opportunities.
“This project was absurdly dangerous and destructive, and Governor Inslee saw these risks clearly,” said Dan Serres, conservation director of Columbia Riverkeeper, in a statement. “The threat of an earthquake or accident creating an oil spill in the Columbia River poses far too great a risk to the Columbia, its salmon, and its people.”
Joint venture to move oil by rail
Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies formed a joint venture to build and operate the Vancouver Energy terminal at the Port of Vancouver USA. Tesoro – a port tenant since 1985 – and Savage have proposed leasing 42 acres at the port for a crude oil distribution facility.
The distribution facility would receive about 360,000 barrels of crude oil shipped by rail from mid-North America and the Bakken oil fields on four trains daily, through the Columbia River Gorge to the Vancouver Energy Terminal. There it would be stored temporarily until it was loaded onto tankers and ships bound for West Coast refineries.
The developers have argued that the terminal could be built safely and would secure a reliable supply of energy for the state. They now have 30 days to appeal the governor’s decision in Thurston County Superior Court.
“It’s a real victory for the community of Vancouver and the people of Washington,” Michael Lang, conservation director with Friends of the Columbia Gorge, said Monday. “It shows that when projects are proposed that pose a significant threat to health and public safety that we can say ‘no’.”
