[NOTE: ILWU Local 4 members share in this victory after working hard to protect the community from the dangers posed by the oil terminal.]
Washington Governor Jay Inslee has rejected a plan to site North America’s largest oil-by-rail terminal at the Port of Vancouver.
In a letter sent to Kathleen Drew, chair of the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), Gov. Inslee said he agreed with the EFSEC’s findings that the risks of siting the proposed Vancouver Energy Tesoro Savage oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver were greater than any potential benefits.
Inslee said the project, which would have brought 360,000 barrels of highly flammable Bakken crude oil into Vancouver each day, via trains rolling straight through Columbia River Gorge communities, including Washougal and Camas, was not in the public’s best interests.
On Jan. 9, the Port of Vancouver Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to end the controversial oil terminal lease, if Vancouver Energy could not obtain the necessary licenses, permits and approvals required to operate by March 31.
Tesoro Savage now has 30 days to appeal Inslee’s decision to Thurston County Superior Court.