VANCOUVER: The Port of Vancouver has voted to continue to lease land to Vancouver Energy for its proposed oil transfer terminal while the evaluation and permitting process continues. The Columbian reports that port commissioners voted 2-1 to continue the lease after a five-hour meeting Tuesday. The proposed $210 million Tesoro Savage Vancouver Energy terminal would handle about 360,000 barrels of crude oil a day. It would receive an average of four 1.5-mile long crude oil trains daily. Oil would temporarily be stored on site and then loaded onto tankers and ships bound for West Coast refineries.
Vancouver Energy and its supporters contend that the terminal is needed to meet fuel needs and would provide an economic boost to the region. They said it deserves to see the end of the state Energy Site Evaluation Council’s scrutiny. But opponents — including tribes, environmental and community groups — say they’re concerned about possible oil spills and accidents as more trains cut through their communities, a worry that was crystallized by an oil train derailment in Mosier, Oregon, last summer. The project has been caught up in nearly four years of review by the site evaluation council, which is expected to issue a recommendation to Gov. Jay Inslee in a few months on whether to grant the project a permit. The port has been collecting $100,000 a month in rent on the vacant site.
