Another setback for PNW crude-by-rail terminal
Written by Railway Age StaffA Washington state port set a deadline for the developer of a controversial oil-by-rail terminal to have approvals in place or lose its lease, which would effectively kill plans to develop the largest such project in the U.S.
The Port of Vancouver’s Board of Commissioners at its first meeting of the year Jan. 10 voted unanimously to set a deadline of March 31 for Vancouver Energy to have all permits and licenses in place for the terminal.
Failing that, the port will allow its rolling lease with developer Tesoro-Savage to expire, all but ending the project.
The port is served by Union Pacific, BNSF, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. The terminal would have loaded up to 360,000 barrels of crude oil per day onto ships bound for West Coast refineries, moving an additional four trains a day through the Columbia River Gorge.
The state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council in December voted unanimously to reject the project. That gave Gov. Jay Inslee until mid-February to make a final decision.
“We’re obviously disappointed in the outcome and the vote,” Vancouver Energy General Manager Jared Larrabee told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “We’re really at the point of evaluating what our options are going forward.”
The report said that the room erupted in applause after the vote, as oil terminal opponents cheered the decision and held a rally in the parking lot.
