Anacortes: Residents urged to get involved at oil forum

Residents urged to get involved at oil forum
Speakers say people concerned about dangers of oil transport by rail need to speak out on safety       BY JOAN PRINGLE
American staff writer

Submitted / Thomas Meyer 'Risky business: How oil transport threatens Washington’s health'Close to 200 people attended a forum on crude oil transport by rail at the Senior Activity Center on July8.

Urged to take action, dozens of Anacortes residents and others concerned about their communities’ safety filled out comment cards addressed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers toward the end of a public forum last week on crude oil transport by rail.

“Risky business: How oil transport threatens Washington’s health” was presented by several nonprofits including Transition Fidalgo & Friends, Evergreen Islands, RE Sources for Sustainable Communities and the Washington Environmental Council at the Senior Activity Center on July 8.

Close to 200 people — most from Anacortes, but several from off island — filled the main room to listen to speakers opposed to oil transport from the Bakken Fields of North Dakota to Washington facilities, such as the Tesoro and Shell Puget Sound refineries on March Point.

Tesoro was the first in the region to receive Bakken crude by rail in September 2012. The Shell refinery is in the permitting stage of creating a rail facility to receive up to six unit trains per week. The BP Cherry Point was receiving crude by rail in December last year and Phillips 66 is expected to complete its own facility this year.

Much of the forum involved explaining to people how they could get involved by commenting on any and all proposed projects in the region, participating in grass-roots actions and sharing information with others and the media. ......continued here