Washington Council Agrees to Take a Broad Look at Tesoro's Proposed Oil Terminal in Vancouver

Blog post by Dan Serres, Riverkeeper’s Conservation Director—

April 2, 2014. Today, over 50 activists, from the Vancouver and Portland area, joined together to send a clear statement of opposition to the proposed Tesoro Savage oil terminal in Vancouver. At 360,000 barrels of oil per day, the project would dwarf other oil terminals proposed in the region and impose an enormous risk on communities near possible oil train routes.

Local labor, faith, environmental, and neighborhood leaders teamed up to make a visible statement against Tesoro Savage's proposal prior to the hearing. A vigorous group urged the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) to deny the Tesoro Savage project.

During the meeting, members of EFSEC deliberated about the range of issues that should be included in the agency's review of the project.

Encouragingly, EFSEC agreed to a broad scope of review that should incorporate:

• A consideration of transportation, public safety, and environmental impacts in Washington communities that could face increased oil train traffic
• A detailed review of emergency response in communities that could be affected by oil train spills or explosions
• A hard look at the impacts of possible oil spills on the Columbia River, surface water, and drinking water supplies along the proposed oil train route

As details emerge about EFSEC's review, we'll be in touch. EFSEC is still debating about how much of the oil terminal's carbon footprint should be included in its review, although they did agree climate change was an important consideration in the review.

For official press release, click here.