The joint venture proposing to build the Northwest’s largest oil-handling operation has filed for a necessary permit, officially launching a yearlong regulatory journey to decide whether Vancouver will become home to a controversial project that promises jobs and tax revenues but that raises public safety and environmental concerns.

Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies, hoping to build a terminal that would handle as much as 380,000 barrels of oil per day at the Port of Vancouver, submitted on Aug. 29 an 872-page “application for site certification” to the Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council.

The council, or EFSEC, will review the application for a year or more and eventually make a recommendation to Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, who has the final say.

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