News
the boom
Port of St. Helens’ commissioners approve controversial oil regulations for Port Westward
BY STEPHEN QUIRKE
STAFF1 WRITER
n a packed hearing at the St. Helens
Public Library on Dec. 12,
commissioners of the Port of St. Helens
voted unanimously to allowpil co m ^ n y ^
Global Partners to handle a much wider
variety of oil products through its Port
'Westward facility in Clatskanie. Global
Partners, through it’s subsidiary, Cascade
Kelly Holdings LLC, owns the Columbia
Pacific Bio-Refinery at the Port Westward
terminal.
The decision paves the way for a
significant oil export business on the
Columbia River, as well as more mile-long oil
trains traveling on both sides of the <
Columbia River Gorge through both
Portland and Vancouver. With this change
the Clatskanie facility is also connected to
both the bakken oil fields of North Dakota
and the tar sands mines of Canada.
The vote was strongly criticized by local
residents, who complain the decision was
rushed and voices were not heard.
“The idea of polluting the Columbia River
with thousands of gallons of crude makes
me want to throw up,” said Nancy Ward, a
local resident and president of Clean
Columbia County. “If they really wanted an
inclusive process they would have called for
a public meeting, or town hall, or some
forum for public input. Listing it as a simple
agenda item meant it wasn’t a secret but it
also did little to shine a light on the critical
nature of the issue.”
On Nov.14, the P ort of St. Helens heard a
public presentation from Global Partners
that asked them to lift all restrictions on the
API gravity of oils handled at the port. API
gravity, or specific gravity, is an inverse
measure that is used to determine the
weight of petroleum liquids in comparison to
water. When Global Partners purchased the
port operation in 2013, the property came
with an API limit of 30 to 44. Oil floats at
API gravity of 10 and higher.
At their next meeting on Nov. 28, Port
I
commissioners came prepared to vote on a
resolution that would scale back these
restrictions, but decided to delay for two
weeks after hearing strong concerns from
local residents and city officials. The vote on
Dec. 12 lowered the weight range to API
18-44, which translates to- heavier oil: '
Testifying on behalf of the St Helens city
council on Dec. 12, Mayor Rick Scholl asked
commissioners to conduct a comprehensive
rail impact study before approving any
modifications to their lease with Global
Partners, observing that the length of trains
shipped to Global Partners exceeded any
other rail user, closing many intersections in
St. Helens - a community only a mile and a
half long.
“We had testimony, over two hours of
passionate testimony from Scappoose, to
Warren, to St. Helens, Columbia City -
nowhere on there was it on my agenda, and
yet everybody was heard, and taken into
consideration,” said Scholl.
S t Helens Council President Doug
Morten was next to address the
commissioners, focusing his opening
remarks on the issue of “good governance”.
“Looking at our council, the only poor
decisions, and the bad decisions that we’ve
made (is) because we had time pressure,
and we had to make that decision. I just
took note that you guys are going to go out
and make a decision this morning, and
that’s ... w ow ... I hope everyone has the
opportunity to air their opinion.”
Commissioners said they supported
Global Partners’ request because the
company required greater flexibility to
succeed. This message was echoed by
Global employees. One employee in charge
of maintenance at the facility told
commissioners “I am definitely for what
we’re doing out there at theT ort, whether
Global owns us or not,” adding “We are not
going do something out there that is unsafe
for us and our family. We are trying to take
care of our families, and this is the best we
can do at this time.”
An hour and a half later, the Port
commissioners ended their meeting with a
line of people still waiting to testify, and
Commissioner Chris Iverson threatening to
have one man arrested for demanding they
postpone the vote until everyone had a
chance to speak.
“There were lots of people, pro and con,
who w a n te d ^ ^ e ^ ^ n d ^ a g r en't allowed to
speak, and to me that’s not how democracy
should work,” said Brady Preheim of
Scappoose. According to Preheim many
people at the Port’s Nov. 28 hearing were
also not able to testify.
Speaking after the hearing about the
resolution, Commissioner Larry Ericksen
remarked, “There’s just nothing wonderful I
can say about i t I just can’t.” He later
added, “I will amend what I said. There is
one good thing I’ll say about it - in regards
to the very happy people in Clatskanie who
get to keep their jobs. So that’s the good
thing.”
API questions
and safety concerns
At their Nov. 28 hearing, Port officials
promised not to allow oils under an API
gravity of 10. Lower numbers of gravity
mean heavier oil. The port officials claimed
this would ensure that any oil spilled would
not sink into the Columbia River, and would
mean less risk of fire and explosion.
At th e Port’s Dec. 12 meeting, one retired
DEQ official, Greg Pettit, explained how
heavy tar sands oil of API 10 must be mixed
with other chemicals for shipment - raising
its API rating and increasing its flammability
while in transit. Scott Smith, a spill
contingency planner with DEQ, also testified
to the commission that these mixed
chemicals separate or “divorce” when oil
spills - allowing heavier oils to sink while
lighter substances float. For Pettit, this
makes diluted bitumen in the approved
range “the worst of both worlds.”
Smith told commissioners that not much
could be said in general about the safety or
composition of these'substances. “There’s a
lot of ways to alter the chemistry of oil,”
Smith said. “Every spill with crude oil is
kind of unique.”
According to Smith, a spiU of diluted
bitumen in the lower ranges “would
p ro b ably b e s o m e t h m g í í k e t h ^ 2 0 l 0 V *
^alaítíazoo-RivÉThT MichTgarr And in that
sp^L the cleap-up took years. ” The
Kalamazoo spill was also one of the largest
and most expensive inland oil spills in U.S.
history - due in part to the behavior of
diluted bitumen, which Smith emphasized
was extremely sticky and difficult to locate
under water. Smith also told the commission
there were many unknowns with regard to
the handling or cleaning of heavy oils, and
that these issues would have to be
considered in the facility’s oil spill response
plan - currently set to expire in August
2019.
“The Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality hasn’t developed
rules for submerged oils y e t I wish we had,”
said Smith.
Oil and public process
in the Northwest
The process governing oil trains to
Oregon has unfolded very differently than
the one in Washington state. One oil facility ,
in Vancouver was studied for four and a half
years and received 289,000 public
comments before it was rejected by
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Three more
terminals proposed in Gray’s Harbor were
also defeated after receiving more than
100,000 public comments.
But commissioners at the Port of St.
Helens gave the public 28 days from start to
finish before voting on API changes that
could have ripple effects across Columbia
County and in cities all along both the BNSF
rail line in Washington and the Union Pacific
rail line in Oregon. Corrimissioners were
even prepared to vote two weeks earlier
before hearing from city officials critical of
See OIL, page 12