More than 600 people gathered in Olympia on Thursday night to show state regulators they’re against rail shipments of crude oil and coal throughout the state.
A hearing at the Red Lion Hotel was preceded by a rally outside where concerned citizens gathered to first speak their piece and encourage each other before staring down the Department of Ecology representatives.
The hearing is part of a directive to the Department of Ecology put forth by Gov. Jay Inslee in June, following what he saw as slow progress from a Legislature directed and funded study on marine and rail oil transportation.
Preliminary findings and recommendations were released on Oct. 1 and two public hearings were held — last night’s and the first one on Tuesday in Spokane.
During the rally preceding the hearing, people gathered with large signs sporting slogans including “No oil trains no way,” “Big oil riding the rails at our expense,” and “Turn back the trains.”
Guest speakers included Olympia Mayor Stephen Buxbaum, Quinault Indian Nation representative Ed Johnstone and Washington State Dungeness Crab Fishermen’s Association representative Larry Thevik of Ocean Shores.
Buxbaum commended the governor for putting the directive into motion, but wants to ensure things don’t slow anytime soon.
“Let’s join our voices to urge state lawmakers to act swiftly on these recommendations and enact provisions that keep our communities safe,” he said.
He also questioned why communities had to pay for their own oil spill response equipment and training. “The cost to protect our communities and our transportation systems should fall on the oil industry,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a burden that’s placed on the taxpayer.”
Buxbaum also advocated for clean energy.
Johnstone spoke for the Quinault Nation. “We’re here to stand with all of the tribal nations and say we will not get on board with and we are opposed to oil by rail — not now, not ever,” he said.
Thevik pointed out that more than 30 percent of the Grays Harbor workforce is employed in marine resource related jobs. Potential oil spills from rail transport could mean pollution to the resource.
“Our members have witnessed first hand the difficult task of recovery of oil on water and shorelines,” he said. “While there are many plans for a response in the case of spills, the practical reality is recovery is daunting, desperate and it’s most often overwhelming.”
The jobs that could be created from the proposed terminals in Grays Harbor (three companies — Imperium, Westway, and U.S. Development — currently are undergoing environmental impact statements for terminals on the Harbor) are not enough to justify the dangers posed to the natural resource, Thevik said.
“Proponents of the unprecedented expansion of crude by rail and the transport of oil through our communities and waterways, knowingly or not, are systematically placing all the elements necessary for one of the worst man-made disasters we could suffer,” he said.
Everybody then moved inside for the hearing.
Those wishing to comment were asked to sign up. About 150 people signed up, from throughout Washington and northern Oregon.
Department of Ecology Program Manager Dale Jensen opened the meeting with a presentation recapping the preliminary report.
After about 20 minutes, the crowd started to call out at him.
“You’ve talked long enough,” one person shouted from the back of the room to the applause of the audience.
He rushed through the report’s recommendations, which include:
• Adequately fund the state’s spill prevention, preparedness and response program.
• The hiring of eight full-time employees for additional inspection.
• Allow inspectors to enter a private shipper’s property.
• Hire three full-time Ecology planners to develop and maintain response plans.
• Continue funding for assessing oil transportation risks.
• Enhance and provide oil spill response and first responder firefighter equipment.
• Require local authorities to submit hazardous materials plans and updates every four years.
• Allow designated first class cities to opt in to the railroad crossing inspection and enforcement program.
• Provide funding for railroad and road reviews of high-risk crossings.
• Issue certificates of financial responsibility to ensure that those transporting oil can pay for cleanup costs and damages resulting from oil spills.
Providing comments to the department during the hearing were State Rep. Sam Hunt and Port of Olympia Commissioner George Barner.
Barner and fellow commissioner, Sue Gunn, pushed through a resolution from their port commission urging the Port of Grays Harbor to reconsider the proposed oil terminals. It also urged the City of Hoquiam to deny permits for the terminals and requested action from state lawmakers regarding rail transportation.
The Washington Public Ports Association later censured Barner and Gunn for the resolution.
Most of the public comments called for a moratorium on crude by rail and oil terminals statewide.
Those who didn’t specifically ask for a moratorium criticized the recommendations for not going far enough.
Like Buxbaum, many want oil companies to prepare communities (supplying both equipment and training) for possible spills.
Safety was the biggest issue. Proximity of “blast zone” to populated areas and schools, proximity of rail to waterways, natural disasters and their effects on terminals and rail, and the chance of cars derailing while shipping crude oil.
Damage to infrastructure from heavy oil cars, and the age of current infrastructure also was concerning.
Many worry about the greater impact of oil in and of itself, citing their concerns about climate change.
Aberdeen City Councilman Alan Richrod told regulators: “We’ve had four derailments — strike that, we had three because the first one wasn’t technically a derailment,” he said. “The cars were sitting in the yard not hooked up to a train, and they fell over.”
The audience broke into laughter.
The hearing lasted about five hours, but many people left well before the last comments were heard.
Many who had signed up also left, and by the end of the meeting, a lot of time was consumed with name cards being read aloud.
When each name card was either read or discarded because the person no longer was present, the Department of Ecology allowed those remaining in the audience to give comments if they hadn’t signed up.
The public hearing was just one of several steps in the process.
A final report will be submitted to the Legislature on March 1, 2015.
Between then and now, the Department of Ecology will continue to hold workshops, intergovernmental meetings and public meetings.
Comments for the public hearing still can be made at http://ift.tt/1tIyirh. Comments close on Dec. 1.
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