Three environmental groups that accuse the Port of Vancouver of violating Washington’s open public meetings law in approving a lease for an oil-by-rail terminal now allege port commissioners used not just one but multiple closed-door meetings to illegally exclude the public from their discussions of the project.Opponents of oil by rail point to disasters like the explosion of several rail cars carrying crude oil in Lac Megantic, Quebec, in 2013. Forty-two people were confirmed dead, and five were missing and presumed dead.
The expanded meetings law complaint and move to limit the questioning of commissioners Nancy Baker, Jerry Oliver and Brian Wolfe represent the latest legal skirmishes over the proposal by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies to build the nation’s largest oil-by-rail terminal at the port.
The expanded lawsuit, filed by the environmental groups on Dec. 1, alleges Baker, Oliver and Wolfe excluded the public from at least nine meetings in 2013 before taking their first unanimous vote to approve the lease on July 23.
