Members of the Public Works Committee of the Aberdeen City Council opted Tuesday afternoon to let council as a whole take a position on a proposed resolution against proposed crude oil shipping facilities on Grays Harbor.
The resolution, which has no force in law, will come up before council this Wednesday evening in the special agenda rather than a specific committee section. Chairwoman Margo Shortt, Tim Alstrom, Kathi Hoder and resolution author Alan Richrod chose to let it come up to the council as a whole without endorsing or opposing it during their 4 p.m. committee meeting.
The resolution may also be discussed by the Public Safety Committee at their meeting at 6:30 p.m., which precedes the city council meeting.
Concerned about the safety of shipping Bakken crude oil by rail and the ability of local emergency response teams to deal with the possibility of a catastrophic accident, Richrod put forward the resolution.
The resolution addresses oil terminal projects and shipping planned by Westway Terminals, Imperium Renewables and U.S. Development. All three sites are on Port property in Hoquiam, which has a role in the permitting process.
The proposals are currently under environmental review.
Anti-crude-by-rail activist Diane Wolfe spoke to the committee in favor of the resolution, which essentially lays out reasons for opposing crude-by-rail and asks that the Port of Grays Harbor not execute any new leases for facilities and storage terminals that would accommodate the storage or transport of crude oil.
Wolfe cited a federal General Accountability Office report released Monday that found that: “‘Without timely action to address safety risks posed by increased transport of oil and gas by pipeline and rail, additional accidents that could have been prevented or mitigated may endanger the public and call into question the readiness of transportation networks in the new oil and gas environment,’” she quoted in a statement she shared with the committee.
Oil and gas production has increased more than five-fold between 2007 and 2012, she said. “More than 400,000 carloads of crude ran over North American rails in 2013, up from just 9,500 in 2008,” she read from her statement. The federal Department of Transportation has also called the safety of crude-by-rail into question after serious oil railcar accidents in the U.S. and Canada.
Hoder said she has heard little she likes about the safety of the oil trains. Shortt asked Wolfe to condense her statement for the meeting tonight. Alstrom, who spoke about the rights of the port, industry and Hoquiam to execute the contracts, said he has changed his vote a couple of times on the issue and may change it again before tonight. Richrod said he was content to have the resolution come up in the special agendas section of the meeting. Public Works Director Malcolm Bowie did not express an opinion.
Wolfe and the committee members agreed that passing the resolution can’t stop the shipment or storage of crude-by-rail on the Harbor, but could add Aberdeen’s elected voices to the opposition.
The public is allowed to address any item on the agenda at the beginning of the meeting and are requested to limit their comments to three minutes. Special agenda items follow committee reports. The meeting starts at 7:15 p.m. on the third floor of city hall.
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