Pictures from the Vancouver Tesoro Savage Terminal Hearing & News Links

As promised, here are pictures from the EFSEC 

Tesoro hearing in Vancouver WA.

We arrived about 3pm, and checked in at the hospitality suite, one of the Fairgrounds livestock barns. It was freezing, unless you huddled near the heater provided by the local Longshore Union. Thanks go to the many sponsors:

Northwest Steelheaders

Columbia Riverkeepers

Sierra Club; who also coordinated the food!

We had more than just Oreos!

Environmental groups host rally against oil terminal project

By Dameon Pesanti, The Columbian 

Inside the hospitality room set up by oil terminal advocates, a small crowd quietly dined on antipasto skewers and tiny ciabatta bun sandwiches. In an outbuilding across the walkway, throngs of people munched on Oreos and cheered when a man on stage held high a big dead fish.  

 

 Hundreds Show Up To Speak On Vancouver Oil Project by Cassandra Profita OPB/EarthFix

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council scheduled 10 hours of public testimony Tuesday. The hearing is focused on a draft environmental impact statement that outlines the risks of the project.

 

R.D. & Robin give their comments

Hundreds weigh in on plan for Vancouver oil terminal The Bellingham Herald

The opponents, many wearing red shirts, appeared to outnumber the supporters. Speakers came from all over Western Washington and Northwest Oregon. Comments for the first few hours were fairly back-and-forth between supporters and opponents, however.Opponents on Tuesday hammered on the risks involved with four 120-unit trains full of oil traveling through the Columbia River Gorge and into Vancouver every day.“Our safety is in your hands. We urge you to tell Gov. (Jay) Inslee to deny the project,” said Jared Smith, president of the local Longshore union.

Oil-by-rail terminal opponents dominate Vancouver public hearing

Updated: Jan 5, 2016, 3:06pm PST  Portland Business Journal

 Hundreds of people, many in red shirts, filed into a sweeping hall today to testify in favor or against a proposal for an oil-by-rail facility in Vancouver. More than 265 speakers had already signed up to speak about the oil train terminal proposed at the Port of Vancouver USA at the public meeting in Ridgefield, Washington, just after 2 p.m. The meeting is slated to run until 11 p.m., depending on how many more speakers show up.

Oil terminal  The Daily News

Those opposed wore red and were chastised for waving signs, then their fingers, in response to anti-terminal speakers, showing their evident supermajority at the hearing.“Our safety is in your hands. We urge you to tell Gov. Inslee to deny the project,” said Jared Smith, president of the local International Longshore & Warehouse Union.During the hearing’s dinner break, a sea of red filled a cool “barn” across from the meeting hall as a rally brought music and speakers together to protest the terminal.The environmental coalition Stand Up to Oil said 1,000 people attended the hearing throughout the day.

Activists in Pacific Northwest Face Off Against Largest Oil-By-Rail Terminal in North America

By Martha Baskin, Truthout | News Analysis

Vancouver, Washington - Stand on the banks of the mighty Columbia River, and in the foggy mist of a Pacific Northwest winter, you may miss the rail tracks that lie on both of its banks. The panoramic vista will give you a sense of why front-line communities have long vowed to protect it from being expanded into a high-volume fossil-fuel corridor, years before Congress lifted the ban on US crude oil exports in late 2015.

I did go over to the other Hostility Suite.

This just isn't a group of people that get all excited about free teeshirts. 

Or free hats. Ed. note- These things were HUGE! I didn't see one on an actual human head, so I have no idea how they fit.

Nope, nobody is wearing a free hat or tee.

They really weren't having any fun.

Yakama Nation voices concerns about proposed oil terminal at Port of Vancouver

By Kate Prengaman Yakima Herald

“The Yakama Nation asks all people of the Pacific Northwest to stand united with the Yakama Nation in opposing this harmful project that threatens the earth, waters, and air belonging to all of us,” Gerald Lewis said in a news release.

“The Yakama Nation will not negotiate nor agree to so-called mitigation for any violations of our treaty rights; there is no word for ‘mitigation’ in the Yakama language,” he said in a statement. “We do not compromise on these matters of life.”

The state is taking public comments on the project until Jan. 22. More information is available at www.efsec.wa.gov

Did the DEIS's properly address your scoping comment??

by Arnie Martin,   Citizens for a Clean Harbor

The draft Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for the Westway Expansion Project and the Imperium Terminal Services Expansion Project [crude oil terminals] in Grays Harbor, were published Aug 31, 2015,  starting  the  60-day public comment period. The comment period starts August 31, 2015 and ends October 29, 2015.

The scoping comments made 2 years ago were to be a guide for the Department of Ecology in writing the Environmental Impact Study (EIS).

Now is the time to go back and look at the scoping comment(s) you submitted back in 2013/2014.

1. Review your scoping comments (comments are in Volume 2, Appendix A). 

    a.       Search for your comments by expanding the “Appendix A” list by clicking on the “+” to its left, then clicking on “Index of Comment Submissions Sorted by Commenter Name”, then scroll down to your name.

    b.      Carefully review your comment(s).

2. Were your concerns addressed in the draft EIS?

    a.       Search (using your exact words in the scoping comment – or a subset of those words) to find what the DEIS says in response to your comment.

    b.      Using “Ctrl” – “Shift” – “F” is the best way to find something buried in the text of the Volume 1.

3. Were your concerns adequately resolved?

    a.      Has the DEIS put in requirements that would have the project proponents change their plans to reduce the effects of the problem addressed in your comment?           

    b.      Does the DEIS just add some words that say that occurrence is “very unlikely” or “highly unlikely”. 

    c.      Does the DEIS simply have a sentence that states: “Compliance with the applicable regulations and permits described above is expected to reduce impacts on land and shoreline use. There would be no unavoidable and significant adverse impacts.” ?

    d.      Does the DEIS fail totally to mention your concerns?

    e.      Be aware that the studies used to prepare the DEIS are included in volumes 2 and 3.

4. Responding to the DEIS

    a.       If you don’t believe that such comments adequately address the concerns you raised in the scoping comment, call their attention to the comment, using the comment submission number assigned to your comment. 

    b.      Point out the inadequacy of their DEIS, relative to your scoping comment. They will have to respond to your comment, and modify the DEIS text for incorporation into the Final EIS.

  

Both Draft EISs are available on the Ecology website, www.ecy.wa.gov/GraysHarbor. In addition to the draft documents, the website also has links to fact sheets in English and Spanish. These fact sheets summarize key issue areas, the environmental review process, and the Westway and the Imperium [ now REG] expansion projects. The website has information on submitting comments and a link to the online comment form.

Comments that do not identify a specific project will be considered for both projects. All comments are valued equally.  Comments can be submitted:

By mail at:
Westway and Imperium Terminal Services Expansion Projects EISs
c/o ICF International
710 Second Street, Suite 550
Seattle, WA 98104

Online at: https://public.commentworks.com/cwx/westwayimperiumcommentform/

Vancouver firefighters oppose oil terminal at port- media links

 

 The Port of Vancouver, looking east from Terminal 5

Incredible testimony from the firefighter union at the Port of Vancouver. The ILWU president also testified against oil in front of a packed house opposed to oil.

Vancouver firefighters oppose oil terminal at port

KOIN-  Port of Vancouver terminal would be nation's largest oil-by-rail terminal

Firefighters: Oil train terminal would put too many lives at risk KGW - video

Vancouver firefighters union opposes oil terminal at port

The Columbian- It cites threats to public safety posed by project proposed at Port of  Vancouver

All stories mentioned the impending release of the DEIS on the 24th of November.

Aberdeen DEIS hearing and rally- pictures and media links

Hundreds listen to Rally speakers

King 5 – “Critics of all ages sound off on oil trains”  - video

Fawn Sharp and Quinault drummers 

The Daily World – “Officials hear overwhelming opposition to crude terminals”

 

 

 Aberdeen City Councilman Alan Richrod discusses oil threat

The Daily World – “Rally riles oil denouncers amid public hearing”

 

 Hundreds Rally against crude oil on the Harbor

KXRO News Radio – “Rally against oil at draft EIS public hearing”                            

                                                               Returning to hearing session

Community weighs in on proposed oil terminals- KOMO News video

Scoping specifically asked Ecology to study the impacts along the rail line throughout the state, but the DRAFT EIS totally ignores everything outside of 59 miles of Aberdeen.    The Department of Ecology and the City of Hoquiam do not have the right to sacrifice other communities for the benefit of special interests. BNSF averages one non-yard accident per million miles.  On that basis, we conclude these terminals will lead to 44 non-yard accidents in 20 years.  Serious accidents are guaranteed.

              

          The stench created by oil was also completely unaddressed, even though it can have major impacts on the community's health and economic viability.

** more media links will be added as we collect them

h/t to RD Grunbaum and Zoltan Grossman for pics,  WEC for links, and Don Steinke for commentary!!