The final version of the state Department of Ecology’s report on oil transportation was released Monday, presenting recommendations for legislation that could affect “crude-by-rail” plans such as those proposed for Grays Harbor.
The report, now 10 months in the making after being contracted last April, sought recommendations for legislators in the wake of a rise in oil-by-rail activity throughout the state. The state’s shipments of oil, the report says, grew from zero gallons in 2011 to 700 million gallons in 2013.
Gov. Jay Inslee called for the study to be expedited two months after it began. Funding for the study came from the state’s 2014 Supplemental Budget.
The study’s section addressing the intersection of marine and rail transportation includes Grays Harbor, where three separate tank farm storage facilities are proposed.
Railroads in 2014 reported 19 unit trains of Bakken crude oil traveled through Washington each week, with each unit train made up of as many as 100 cars, carrying a total of 3 million gallons of oil. The report predicts an increase from 19 unit trains a week to 137 if the proposed facilities are built.
Proposed facilities at the Port of Grays Harbor include additional tanks for crude oil at existing properties operated by Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables. A third facility is proposed near Bowerman Field in Hoquiam.
The study also addressed risks to public safety, citing the 2013 derailment and explosion of an oil train in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people.
“It is more important than ever for the state to have adequate resources to continue to address impacts to public health and safety, and environmental protection resulting from the changing energy picture,” the report says.
The report also addresses risks at rail crossings, which would increase with an influx of trains. Aberdeen has 15 rail crossings, the report says. Health risks like drinking water contamination were also considered, though no drinking water intakes for Grays Harbor were listed as being at risk.
The report makes 43 recommendations to both state and federal lawmakers, but a shorter list in the report’s executive summary gives 19 state and federal recommendations for legislators to address in the near future.
Short-listed changes for state lawmakers include considering funding options to increase spill prevention and preparedness and an amendment to authority guidelines to allow United Transportation Corporation inspectors to conduct hazardous material inspections on private property.
Senate Bill 5087, along with companion House Bill 1449, have made an effort to address funding for response preparedness for oil spills, and are co-sponsored by the majority of Grays Harbor lawmakers. The House version of the bill, the furthest along in the process, was referred to the Rules Committee on Feb. 27.
Another bill, SB 5057, calls for the allocation of funding from the Department of Ecology to emergency responders to help with oil clean-up. That bill is in its second reading in the Rules Committee.
The report’s list also calls for the Northwest Area Committee of the National Response Team to analyze Bakken crude characteristics for a better understanding of the material and a long-term waterways plan implemented by the Coast Guard to accommodate the rise in vessel traffic on Grays Harbor, the Columbia River, the Puget Sound and outer coast.
The final version of the report comes nearly three months after release of a draft in December, and though the changes between the two remain minimal, the newest draft includes mention of last month’s derailment and fire in West Virginia. It also mentions five occurrences of leaking rail cars in the state, which remain under investigation.
Paul Queary, a spokesman with Strategies 360, the public relations firm that represents both Westway Terminals and Imperium Renewables, said both companies support the recommendations, which are largely centered around the railway and not the shippers.
“Generically, I think we’re in support of improved railway safety,” he said. “We want to work with the railroads and make sure that if our projects are built that materials move safely and arrive safely at our project. That’s what everybody wants.”
Linda Orgel, a member of Citizens for a Clean Harbor, a group working to stop the oil storage projects, said that despite the report’s long list of recommendations, she doesn’t think it addresses all the risks well enough. Orgel said on Monday she hadn’t yet read the final report, but had read the December draft.
“It is our belief that there is nothing that can be done to mitigate a spill or an explosion or any of those things,” she said.
Online:
The full Department of Ecology report:
Kyle Mittan, 360-537-3932, kmittan@thedailyworld.com. Twitter: @KyleMittan
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