To protect crucial shorebird habitat, Congress authorized the establishment of Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge in 1988. The Refuge is adjacent to the oil terminal proposed by US Development .
By Corey Morris The Daily World 09/11/14
The City of Hoquiam will sign a
memorandum of understanding to act as the co-lead agency with the state
Department of Ecology for an environmental impact statement process on the
proposed U.S. Development crude oil storage facility near Bowerman Field.
The state and the city have overall
purview, but the process will be guided by ICF Jones and Stokes, the consulting
company undertaking the same job for Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables,
both undergoing the EIS process for their proposed oil terminal projects.
At Monday’s council meeting, the
Hoquiam City Council agreed to the arrangement. “They like the partnership
we’ve had with ICF, Imperium and Westway, and they wanted to continue that,”
City Administrator Brian Shay said.
Background
Initially, the city and Department
of Ecology made a decision to approve the Westway and Imperium applications
without a full environmental impact state process, opting for a mitigated
determination of non-significance under the State Environmental Protection Act,
considered a less rigorous process.
Following appeals by The Quinault
Indian Nation and a coalition of environmental groups — including Friends of
Grays Harbor, the Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Citizens for a Clean Harbor, the
Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club — an official ruling invalidated the
determination.
Both companies elected to an EIS to
complete the process without having to resubmit.
U.S. Development, which will operate
locally as Grays Harbor Rail Terminal LLC, is different.
The company elected to do an EIS
from the beginning.
Additionally, the city is legally
unable to be the sole lead on the project.
“Because of the amount of oil
stored, the Department of Ecology is the lead agency by statute,” Shay said.
Acting as co-lead will mean a time
investment from the city.
“It adds a lot of staff time on our
end — leading the EIS was something we needed to weigh against our staff time,”
Shay said. “Normally, with a project this size we’d hire a contractor to handle
it.”
However, all three companies (U.S.
Development, Westway and Imperium) will cover the cost of their own EIS and
reimburse both the city and the Department of Ecology for staff time.
Westway and Imperium will pay about
$1 million apiece, not including staff reimbursement. (Though each company has
its own EIS, the scoping period was handled as a single entity for Westway and
Imperium.)
During the city council meeting on
Monday, Hoquiam Mayor Jack Durney was authorized to sign an MOU with the Department
of Ecology.
The city will make the official
“determination of significance” and oversee scoping and drafting.
Shay will work with the department
of Ecology, ICF Jones and Stokes and US Development during the process.
“I get advice from Jack (Durney) and
(City Attorney) Steve (Johnson) all the time on these things, which I can share
with ICF and (the Department of) Ecology, otherwise we’d just be sitting on the
outside,” Shay said.
The Department of Ecology has the
authority to terminate the MOU at any time, Shay said, thereby relieving the
city of its co-lead responsibilities.
U.S. Development is about nine
months behind Westway and Imperium, which expect to release a draft EIS for
public comment in January.
Following in the wake of that EIS
means an easier task for ICF.
“We’re doing an extremely thorough
investigation now that will be used in the U.S. Development project,” Shay
said.
“If anybody saves money, it’d be
U.S. Development, regardless of if they use ICF, because the information is
public,” Shay said. “We now have all the information to do a qualitative and
quantitative analysis of all three companies.”
Next steps
A formal document requiring an EIS
determination of significance will be signed next week, and a scoping notice
and legal notice of public input will be printed in the Vidette
indicating the threshold of determination (a minimum of 21 days, but the city
expects the threshold to last at least 45 days for U.S. Development).
During the scoping period, the
public can submit written comments. Shay cautions those comments should be
directly related to the scoping and not overall opinion of the prospective
project. He suggests beginning comments with the phrase: “In the scoping, I’d
like you to study …”
Also during the scoping period, a
public meeting will be held to receive oral testimony. A tentative date has
been set for Oct. 16.
A draft EIS then will be published
at which point the public can again comment. “This is the point where people
can challenge the impacts of the project,” Shay said.
During the public comment portions
of the Westway and Imperium EIS process, the city and Department of Ecology
received about 20,000 comments for the two companies (a large portion of the
comments were of the same form letter with different signatures).
“We hope that the more than 22,000
comments for the scoping process of Imperium and Westway would be made part of
their consideration (in the U.S. Development EIS),” R.D. Grunbaum of the
Friends of Gray Harbor said on Thursday.
Shay said the comments for the
Westway and Imperium environmental impact statements will be considered for
U.S. Development.
The
City of Hoquiam will sign a memorandum of understanding to act as the
co-lead agency with the state Department of Ecology for an environmental
impact statement process on the proposed U.S. Development crude oil
storage facility near Bowerman Field.
The state and the city have overall purview, but the process will be guided by ICF Jones and Stokes, the consulting company undertaking the same job for Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables, both undergoing the EIS process for their proposed oil terminal projects.
At Monday’s council meeting, the Hoquiam City Council agreed to the arrangement. “They like the partnership we’ve had with ICF, Imperium and Westway, and they wanted to continue that,” City Administrator Brian Shay said.
Background
Initially, the city and Department of Ecology made a decision to approve the Westway and Imperium applications without a full environmental impact state process, opting for a mitigated determination of non-significance under the State Environmental Protection Act, considered a less rigorous process.
Following appeals by The Quinault Indian Nation and a coalition of environmental groups — including Friends of Grays Harbor, the Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Citizens for a Clean Harbor, the Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club — an official ruling invalidated the determination.
Both companies elected to an EIS to complete the process without having to resubmit.
U.S. Development, which will operate locally as Grays Harbor Rail Terminal LLC, is different.
The company elected to do an EIS from the beginning.
Additionally, the city is legally unable to be the sole lead on the project.
“Because of the amount of oil stored, the Department of Ecology is the lead agency by statute,” Shay said.
Investment
Acting as co-lead will mean a time investment from the city.
“It adds a lot of staff time on our end — leading the EIS was something we needed to weigh against our staff time,” Shay said. “Normally, with a project this size we’d hire a contractor to handle it.”
However, all three companies (U.S. Development, Westway and Imperium) will cover the cost of their own EIS and reimburse both the city and the Department of Ecology for staff time.
Westway and Imperium will pay about $1 million apiece, not including staff reimbursement. (Though each company has its own EIS, the scoping period was handled as a single entity for Westway and Imperium.)
During the city council meeting on Monday, Hoquiam Mayor Jack Durney was authorized to sign an MOU with the Department of Ecology.
The city will make the official “determination of significance” and oversee scoping and drafting.
Shay will work with the department of Ecology, ICF Jones and Stokes and US Development during the process.
“I get advice from Jack (Durney) and (City Attorney) Steve (Johnson) all the time on these things, which I can share with ICF and (the Department of) Ecology, otherwise we’d just be sitting on the outside,” Shay said.
The Department of Ecology has the authority to terminate the MOU at any time, Shay said, thereby relieving the city of its co-lead responsibilities.
U.S. Development is about nine months behind Westway and Imperium, which expect to release a draft EIS for public comment in January.
Following in the wake of that EIS means an easier task for ICF.
“We’re doing an extremely thorough investigation now that will be used in the U.S. Development project,” Shay said.
“If anybody saves money, it’d be U.S. Development, regardless of if they use ICF, because the information is public,” Shay said. “We now have all the information to do a qualitative and quantitative analysis of all three companies.”
Next steps
A formal document requiring an EIS determination of significance will be signed next week, and a scoping notice and legal notice of public input will be printed in the Vidette indicating the threshold of determination (a minimum of 21 days, but the city expects the threshold to last at least 45 days for U.S. Development).
During the scoping period, the public can submit written comments. Shay cautions those comments should be directly related to the scoping and not overall opinion of the prospective project. He suggests beginning comments with the phrase: “In the scoping, I’d like you to study …”
Also during the scoping period, a public meeting will be held to receive oral testimony. A tentative date has been set for Oct. 16.
A draft EIS then will be published at which point the public can again comment. “This is the point where people can challenge the impacts of the project,” Shay said.
During the public comment portions of the Westway and Imperium EIS process, the city and Department of Ecology received about 20,000 comments for the two companies (a large portion of the comments were of the same form letter with different signatures).
“We hope that the more than 22,000 comments for the scoping process of Imperium and Westway would be made part of their consideration (in the U.S. Development EIS),” R.D. Grunbaum of the Friends of Gray Harbor said on Thursday.
Shay said the comments for the Westway and Imperium environmental impact statements will be considered for U.S. Development.
- See more at:
http://thedailyworld.com/news/local/third-oil-project-will-go-through-eis-process-hoquiam-co-lead-agency#sthash.c1lMnbCG.dpufThe state and the city have overall purview, but the process will be guided by ICF Jones and Stokes, the consulting company undertaking the same job for Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables, both undergoing the EIS process for their proposed oil terminal projects.
At Monday’s council meeting, the Hoquiam City Council agreed to the arrangement. “They like the partnership we’ve had with ICF, Imperium and Westway, and they wanted to continue that,” City Administrator Brian Shay said.
Background
Initially, the city and Department of Ecology made a decision to approve the Westway and Imperium applications without a full environmental impact state process, opting for a mitigated determination of non-significance under the State Environmental Protection Act, considered a less rigorous process.
Following appeals by The Quinault Indian Nation and a coalition of environmental groups — including Friends of Grays Harbor, the Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Citizens for a Clean Harbor, the Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club — an official ruling invalidated the determination.
Both companies elected to an EIS to complete the process without having to resubmit.
U.S. Development, which will operate locally as Grays Harbor Rail Terminal LLC, is different.
The company elected to do an EIS from the beginning.
Additionally, the city is legally unable to be the sole lead on the project.
“Because of the amount of oil stored, the Department of Ecology is the lead agency by statute,” Shay said.
Investment
Acting as co-lead will mean a time investment from the city.
“It adds a lot of staff time on our end — leading the EIS was something we needed to weigh against our staff time,” Shay said. “Normally, with a project this size we’d hire a contractor to handle it.”
However, all three companies (U.S. Development, Westway and Imperium) will cover the cost of their own EIS and reimburse both the city and the Department of Ecology for staff time.
Westway and Imperium will pay about $1 million apiece, not including staff reimbursement. (Though each company has its own EIS, the scoping period was handled as a single entity for Westway and Imperium.)
During the city council meeting on Monday, Hoquiam Mayor Jack Durney was authorized to sign an MOU with the Department of Ecology.
The city will make the official “determination of significance” and oversee scoping and drafting.
Shay will work with the department of Ecology, ICF Jones and Stokes and US Development during the process.
“I get advice from Jack (Durney) and (City Attorney) Steve (Johnson) all the time on these things, which I can share with ICF and (the Department of) Ecology, otherwise we’d just be sitting on the outside,” Shay said.
The Department of Ecology has the authority to terminate the MOU at any time, Shay said, thereby relieving the city of its co-lead responsibilities.
U.S. Development is about nine months behind Westway and Imperium, which expect to release a draft EIS for public comment in January.
Following in the wake of that EIS means an easier task for ICF.
“We’re doing an extremely thorough investigation now that will be used in the U.S. Development project,” Shay said.
“If anybody saves money, it’d be U.S. Development, regardless of if they use ICF, because the information is public,” Shay said. “We now have all the information to do a qualitative and quantitative analysis of all three companies.”
Next steps
A formal document requiring an EIS determination of significance will be signed next week, and a scoping notice and legal notice of public input will be printed in the Vidette indicating the threshold of determination (a minimum of 21 days, but the city expects the threshold to last at least 45 days for U.S. Development).
During the scoping period, the public can submit written comments. Shay cautions those comments should be directly related to the scoping and not overall opinion of the prospective project. He suggests beginning comments with the phrase: “In the scoping, I’d like you to study …”
Also during the scoping period, a public meeting will be held to receive oral testimony. A tentative date has been set for Oct. 16.
A draft EIS then will be published at which point the public can again comment. “This is the point where people can challenge the impacts of the project,” Shay said.
During the public comment portions of the Westway and Imperium EIS process, the city and Department of Ecology received about 20,000 comments for the two companies (a large portion of the comments were of the same form letter with different signatures).
“We hope that the more than 22,000 comments for the scoping process of Imperium and Westway would be made part of their consideration (in the U.S. Development EIS),” R.D. Grunbaum of the Friends of Gray Harbor said on Thursday.
Shay said the comments for the Westway and Imperium environmental impact statements will be considered for U.S. Development.
The
City of Hoquiam will sign a memorandum of understanding to act as the
co-lead agency with the state Department of Ecology for an environmental
impact statement process on the proposed U.S. Development crude oil
storage facility near Bowerman Field.
The state and the city have overall purview, but the process will be guided by ICF Jones and Stokes, the consulting company undertaking the same job for Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables, both undergoing the EIS process for their proposed oil terminal projects.
At Monday’s council meeting, the Hoquiam City Council agreed to the arrangement. “They like the partnership we’ve had with ICF, Imperium and Westway, and they wanted to continue that,” City Administrator Brian Shay said.
Background
Initially, the city and Department of Ecology made a decision to approve the Westway and Imperium applications without a full environmental impact state process, opting for a mitigated determination of non-significance under the State Environmental Protection Act, considered a less rigorous process.
Following appeals by The Quinault Indian Nation and a coalition of environmental groups — including Friends of Grays Harbor, the Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Citizens for a Clean Harbor, the Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club — an official ruling invalidated the determination.
Both companies elected to an EIS to complete the process without having to resubmit.
U.S. Development, which will operate locally as Grays Harbor Rail Terminal LLC, is different.
The company elected to do an EIS from the beginning.
Additionally, the city is legally unable to be the sole lead on the project.
“Because of the amount of oil stored, the Department of Ecology is the lead agency by statute,” Shay said.
Investment
Acting as co-lead will mean a time investment from the city.
“It adds a lot of staff time on our end — leading the EIS was something we needed to weigh against our staff time,” Shay said. “Normally, with a project this size we’d hire a contractor to handle it.”
However, all three companies (U.S. Development, Westway and Imperium) will cover the cost of their own EIS and reimburse both the city and the Department of Ecology for staff time.
Westway and Imperium will pay about $1 million apiece, not including staff reimbursement. (Though each company has its own EIS, the scoping period was handled as a single entity for Westway and Imperium.)
During the city council meeting on Monday, Hoquiam Mayor Jack Durney was authorized to sign an MOU with the Department of Ecology.
The city will make the official “determination of significance” and oversee scoping and drafting.
Shay will work with the department of Ecology, ICF Jones and Stokes and US Development during the process.
“I get advice from Jack (Durney) and (City Attorney) Steve (Johnson) all the time on these things, which I can share with ICF and (the Department of) Ecology, otherwise we’d just be sitting on the outside,” Shay said.
The Department of Ecology has the authority to terminate the MOU at any time, Shay said, thereby relieving the city of its co-lead responsibilities.
U.S. Development is about nine months behind Westway and Imperium, which expect to release a draft EIS for public comment in January.
Following in the wake of that EIS means an easier task for ICF.
“We’re doing an extremely thorough investigation now that will be used in the U.S. Development project,” Shay said.
“If anybody saves money, it’d be U.S. Development, regardless of if they use ICF, because the information is public,” Shay said. “We now have all the information to do a qualitative and quantitative analysis of all three companies.”
Next steps
A formal document requiring an EIS determination of significance will be signed next week, and a scoping notice and legal notice of public input will be printed in the Vidette indicating the threshold of determination (a minimum of 21 days, but the city expects the threshold to last at least 45 days for U.S. Development).
During the scoping period, the public can submit written comments. Shay cautions those comments should be directly related to the scoping and not overall opinion of the prospective project. He suggests beginning comments with the phrase: “In the scoping, I’d like you to study …”
Also during the scoping period, a public meeting will be held to receive oral testimony. A tentative date has been set for Oct. 16.
A draft EIS then will be published at which point the public can again comment. “This is the point where people can challenge the impacts of the project,” Shay said.
During the public comment portions of the Westway and Imperium EIS process, the city and Department of Ecology received about 20,000 comments for the two companies (a large portion of the comments were of the same form letter with different signatures).
“We hope that the more than 22,000 comments for the scoping process of Imperium and Westway would be made part of their consideration (in the U.S. Development EIS),” R.D. Grunbaum of the Friends of Gray Harbor said on Thursday.
Shay said the comments for the Westway and Imperium environmental impact statements will be considered for U.S. Development.
- See more at:
http://thedailyworld.com/news/local/third-oil-project-will-go-through-eis-process-hoquiam-co-lead-agency#sthash.c1lMnbCG.dpufThe state and the city have overall purview, but the process will be guided by ICF Jones and Stokes, the consulting company undertaking the same job for Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables, both undergoing the EIS process for their proposed oil terminal projects.
At Monday’s council meeting, the Hoquiam City Council agreed to the arrangement. “They like the partnership we’ve had with ICF, Imperium and Westway, and they wanted to continue that,” City Administrator Brian Shay said.
Background
Initially, the city and Department of Ecology made a decision to approve the Westway and Imperium applications without a full environmental impact state process, opting for a mitigated determination of non-significance under the State Environmental Protection Act, considered a less rigorous process.
Following appeals by The Quinault Indian Nation and a coalition of environmental groups — including Friends of Grays Harbor, the Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Citizens for a Clean Harbor, the Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club — an official ruling invalidated the determination.
Both companies elected to an EIS to complete the process without having to resubmit.
U.S. Development, which will operate locally as Grays Harbor Rail Terminal LLC, is different.
The company elected to do an EIS from the beginning.
Additionally, the city is legally unable to be the sole lead on the project.
“Because of the amount of oil stored, the Department of Ecology is the lead agency by statute,” Shay said.
Investment
Acting as co-lead will mean a time investment from the city.
“It adds a lot of staff time on our end — leading the EIS was something we needed to weigh against our staff time,” Shay said. “Normally, with a project this size we’d hire a contractor to handle it.”
However, all three companies (U.S. Development, Westway and Imperium) will cover the cost of their own EIS and reimburse both the city and the Department of Ecology for staff time.
Westway and Imperium will pay about $1 million apiece, not including staff reimbursement. (Though each company has its own EIS, the scoping period was handled as a single entity for Westway and Imperium.)
During the city council meeting on Monday, Hoquiam Mayor Jack Durney was authorized to sign an MOU with the Department of Ecology.
The city will make the official “determination of significance” and oversee scoping and drafting.
Shay will work with the department of Ecology, ICF Jones and Stokes and US Development during the process.
“I get advice from Jack (Durney) and (City Attorney) Steve (Johnson) all the time on these things, which I can share with ICF and (the Department of) Ecology, otherwise we’d just be sitting on the outside,” Shay said.
The Department of Ecology has the authority to terminate the MOU at any time, Shay said, thereby relieving the city of its co-lead responsibilities.
U.S. Development is about nine months behind Westway and Imperium, which expect to release a draft EIS for public comment in January.
Following in the wake of that EIS means an easier task for ICF.
“We’re doing an extremely thorough investigation now that will be used in the U.S. Development project,” Shay said.
“If anybody saves money, it’d be U.S. Development, regardless of if they use ICF, because the information is public,” Shay said. “We now have all the information to do a qualitative and quantitative analysis of all three companies.”
Next steps
A formal document requiring an EIS determination of significance will be signed next week, and a scoping notice and legal notice of public input will be printed in the Vidette indicating the threshold of determination (a minimum of 21 days, but the city expects the threshold to last at least 45 days for U.S. Development).
During the scoping period, the public can submit written comments. Shay cautions those comments should be directly related to the scoping and not overall opinion of the prospective project. He suggests beginning comments with the phrase: “In the scoping, I’d like you to study …”
Also during the scoping period, a public meeting will be held to receive oral testimony. A tentative date has been set for Oct. 16.
A draft EIS then will be published at which point the public can again comment. “This is the point where people can challenge the impacts of the project,” Shay said.
During the public comment portions of the Westway and Imperium EIS process, the city and Department of Ecology received about 20,000 comments for the two companies (a large portion of the comments were of the same form letter with different signatures).
“We hope that the more than 22,000 comments for the scoping process of Imperium and Westway would be made part of their consideration (in the U.S. Development EIS),” R.D. Grunbaum of the Friends of Gray Harbor said on Thursday.
Shay said the comments for the Westway and Imperium environmental impact statements will be considered for U.S. Development.
No comments:
Post a Comment