Draft Environmental Impact Statement to be released August 31

The release of the draft Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for the Westway Expansion Project and the Imperium Terminal Services Expansion Project and the start of the public comment period will occur on Monday, Aug. 31, 2015

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The two Draft EISs will be released on the Ecology website,www.ecy.wa.gov/GraysHarbor. Along with the draft documents and chapters, there will also be fact sheets summarizing key issue areas, the environmental review process, and the Westway and the Imperium expansion projects.

We are providing multiple ways to comment during the expanded 60-day comment period, starting August 31, 2015 and ending October 29, 2015.

Open houses and public hearings will be held on October 1 in Elma andOctober 8 in Aberdeen. Additional details will be released August 31 on the project website, www.ecy.wa.gov/GraysHarbor, as well as through this LISTSERV.

Public engagement is a vital part of the environmental review process, and we look forward to receiving your comments on the analysis and findings in the draft EISs.

Look for more details through this LISTSERV on Monday, August 31 or the legal notice published in the Montesano Vidette on Thursday, August 27.

Thank you.

Portraits of People in the Path of Canada’s Mega Tar Sands Pipeline

this may be about pipelines and not rail...but the impacts are much the same....

8 Striking Portraits of People in the Path of Canada’s Mega Tar Sands Pipeline

 

Kristin Moe       Apr 09, 2015     YES Magazine

TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline would span thousands of miles, from rural Alberta to the Atlantic coast of New Brunswick.

Zoe Gould is a farmer and student who lives in the path of the proposed Energy East pipeline. Photo by Robert van Waarden.

When photographer Robert van Waarden heard about Transcanada’s Energy East project—a tar sands pipeline that, if built, would be the longest such pipeline in the world and would exceed the capacity of Keystone XL by about 30 percent—he did what he knew how to do: he took pictures.

Along the Pipeline can be seen as an attempt to bring  excluded voices back into the debate.

Over the course of several months, van Waarden drove all 2,800 miles of the proposed pipeline route across Canada, from Hardisty, Alberta, to the eastern terminus at St. John, New Brunswick. Using an old 4x5 film camera from the early ’70s—the kind where you put a cloth over your head—he made portraits of the people he met on the way, and recorded their words. The result was Along the Pipeline, a collective portrait of more than 70 indigenous people, farmers, fishermen, artists, and business owners. He wanted to know how they felt about the pipeline, the environment, and Canada’s economic future. He spent time in their homes, camped in their backyards, cooked with them in their kitchens..... (map at site)    More here

Canada considers Arctic Gateway to ship oil and gas from Alaska to Asia

 

 Mackenzie River Drainage Basin

Alaskan eyes ‘lit up’

Positive response to NWT minister’s suggestion of Canadian exports from Valdez

Gary Park   For Petroleum News  week of Dec. 14, 2014 

Arctic Gateway, a sweeping initiative to explore ways to move oil and natural gas from Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska to markets in the Asia-Pacific region, will likely be an underpinning of a standalone energy strategy being drafted in the NWT, said Industry Minister Dave Ramsay.   

.... The strategy could include recommendations for a pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley, breathing fresh life into the Arctic Gateway concept and giving the strongest push yet to the NWT government’s long-held dream of a transportation, energy and communications corridor along the river valley, including a fiber optic link and a possible all-weather highway, Ramsay said....

... One of the key unresolved issues is whether the Arctic Gateway would establish an exit point for Canadian oil and gas at Tuktoyaktuk, north of Inuvik on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, or at Valdez..... 

.... But he emphasized that there is no chance of any project moving ahead without an ownership role for NWT aboriginal governments, extending the precedent already set for a one-third equity stake for the Aboriginal Pipeline Group in the Mackenzie Gas Project....  read more here

 

California communities fight back against crude by rail

Grist     by Tara Lohan    13 Dec 2014 

This story is a part of Faces of Fracking: Stories From the Front Lines of Fracking in California. Click here for the full series.

..... Crude by rail has increased 4,000 percent across the country since 2008 and California is feeling the effects. By 2016 the amount of crude by rail entering the state is expected to increase by a factor of 25. That’s assuming industry gets its way in creating more crude by rail stations at refineries and oil terminals. And that’s no longer looking like a sure thing.....

.... With all this crude by rail activity, some big picture thinking would be helpful. As Attorney General Kamala Harris wrote about the Benicia project, “There’s no consideration of cumulative impacts that could affect public safety and the environment by the proliferation of crude-by-rail projects proposed in California.”....    read article here

35 CN train cars derail near Raymore, Sask.

No leaks or risk to public safety at this time, RCMP say

CBC News     Dec 12, 2014 

Canadian National Railway now says that 35 cars, not 33, with one carrying dangerous goods, went off the tracks near Raymore, Sask.

The derailment happened at 9:45 a.m. CST Friday, just west of the town about 110 kilometres north of Regina.....   read more here

2014 Marine and Rail Oil Transport Study- what we can do now

Check out the Dept. of Ecology Newsletter:  

Washington Oil Observer    "features information on the ever-changing oil transportation picture in our state"

The November issue covers the public hearings in Spokane and Olympia on the 2014 Marine and Rail Oil Transportation Study, and features a quote from our own Jude Armstrong!

“Estuaries are very vulnerable to oil spills. The fisheries industry in the state would suffer grave consequences if oil should befoul an estuary, such as Grays Harbor.”

- Jude Armstrong

From Evergreen Islands:  what you can do now

• Comments on the 2014 Marine and Rail Oil Transportation Study are due by Mon., Dec. 1, 5 p.m. To submit an online comment, see Public Comments for the 2014 Marine and Rail Oil Transportation Study.  To submit hard-copy comment, mail it to Scott Ferguson, Project Manager, Dept. of Ecology, Spills Program, 300 Desmond Dr. SE, Olympia, WA 98504-7600.  For questions, call Ferguson at 360-407-7465 or email him at  scott.ferguson@ecy.wa.gov. 

We expect transport of oil by train and vessel to be a hot topic at Washington State’s 2015 legislative session—and your state legislators need to know where you stand! Click on the following link to Find Your Legislator.

We have the power to build our individual stories, concerns, and focus into a unified and powerful voice. Below are four high-level key messages:

•   Say Yes to action! Our state leaders can and should take concrete action to protection Washington now. Through the legislature, our state can act now by delivering on our right to know how much and what type of oil is coming through our communities and to strengthen rules to protect our waters.
•  Say No to terminals – we can do better.
•  Say No to the cumulative impacts of oil and coal. From vessels to trains – the impact of oil and coal pose serious threats to our communities, health, economy, and water.
•  Say Yes to solutions for clean energy. It’s time for Washington to lead on safe, renewable clean energy solutions.

The "comments" section is a great place to share your own ideas !!

Report concludes CBR risks real/ BNSF adds surcharge for DOT-111s

New crude oil report concludes risks of train spills are real

Tony Bizjak | The Sacramento Bee  10/23/14

Mile-long oil trains that are expected to crisscross California daily in the coming years pose significant risks to residents of urban areas, including Sacramento, a new report concludes, contradicting earlier studies that found no major safety concerns.

The report, issued by San Luis Obispo County officials, is based on a plan by Phillips 66 to transport crude oil on 80-car trains, five days a week, to its Santa Maria refinery, some likely through Sacramento. The authors looked at the cumulative impact of all oil trains that could come through California on a daily basis and came to the conclusion that the risk of oil spills and fires is real, and offered suggestions on how those issues should be addressed.

“Up to seven crude oil trains a day could travel on the stretch of track between Roseville and Sacramento,” the report reads. “The cumulative risk would be significant.”....

.... San Luis Obispo County officials said they decided to go beyond what was done in Benicia and Kern County — breaking new ground in California’s evolving crude-by-rail debate — by conducting a qualitative risk assessment, to understand the ramifications of “reasonable” worst-case oil spill scenarios. The new report is an amended version of an earlier report San Luis Obispo issued last year, which also had been challenged as inadequate....  read more here

Berkshire Hathaway railroad adds surcharge on older oil tank cars

October 25, 2014    fuelfix.com 

BNSF Railway Co. plans to apply a $1,000 surcharge for each older crude tank car, denting profits for shale drillers in North Dakota.

The railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the first major U.S. operator using fees to encourage shippers to scrap the puncture-prone older cars. The charge, which goes into effect Jan. 1, would add about $1.50 a barrel to the cost of transporting oil on them.....

....The surcharge will pertain to cars known as DOT-111s and won’t apply to cars called CPC-1232s that are built to higher standards adopted in October 2011, according to a BNSF notice. .... read more here

Calif. AG Blasts CBR Project; Railroads Sue CA Over New Safety Rules

California Attorney General Kamala Harris blasts Benicia crude-by-rail project

Times on Line   By Tony Burchyns  10/08/14


California Attorney General Kamala Harris has blasted Benicia's environmental review of Valero's crude-by-rail project, claiming it underestimates safety risks and relies on an overly broad definition of trade secrets in failing to disclose the types of volatile crudes to be shipped.

In a letter to the city last week, Harris said Benicia's safety analysis was inadequate because it only considers "a fraction" of the rail miles that would be traveled by oil trains headed to the city's Valero refinery. Harris also faults the city for relying on Valero's "unenforceable" promise to use newer, safer tank cars that are not currently required by federal regulations.

The letter follows similar critical comments from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the Public Utilities Commission.....

.... Harris, whose duties include enforcing the California Environmental Quality Act, contends the city's project analysis fails to analyze air pollution impacts from the foreseeable change in crude oils that would be processed at the refinery. It also faulted the city for limiting the scope of its rail safety analysis to 69 miles of track between Roseville and Benicia, and failing to consider cumulative impacts from other crude-by-rail projects proposed in California.

The letter also criticized the city's finding that the risk of train spills of more than 100 gallons between Roseville and Benicia would be once in 111 years. Critics have said the analysis is flawed because it relies on rail safety data that predates the nation's crude-by-rail boom....
read more here

Railroads sue California over new crude oil safety requirements 

George Warren, KXTV  News10.net  10/08/14 

SACRAMENTO - The major railroads operating in California are suing the state to block implementation of new regulations imposed on crude oil transportation by rail.

Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway Company and the Association of American Railroads claim the new state law expanding the scope of state Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) is preempted by federal law.

Senate Bill 861, which took effect July 1, imposes a 6.5 cent fee on every barrel of oil entering California to fund the new oil spill protections. Previously, the fee was only charged on oil arriving by sea.....

...The railroads' lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, claims the federal government already prescribes elaborate safety standards governing rail car design and operation, capacity and type of crude being transported.

The lawsuit claims SB 861, which will bar railroads from transporting oil in California without a state-approved spill prevention and response plan, squarely overlaps existing federal rules....
read more here