Call to Action: Stop Zenith Energy's Dangerous Expansion on the Willamette
DEQ, Portland City Council, and Land Use Services need to hear from you today!
Dear Readers,
I’m putting off wrapping up this week’s issue of The Agenda because I didn’t want this to wait. I am so profoundly disappointed in the actions of this Council, which threatens to undo the hard work we—City Council and thousands of community members—did to prevent Zenith Energy’s dangerous expansion beginning in 2019. Local environmental activists are mobilizing to let Portland City Council, the Bureau of Development Services, and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) know that the people of Portland demand this decision be reversed. I hope Street Wonk readers will join them.
In the 2016 runoff, I devoted one of my few campaign videos to the Portland Harbor Superfund Cleanup in English and Spanish. Those videos helped drive record-breaking public comment, ultimately resulting in a stronger cleanup plan. Sections of the Zenith Energy Terminal are part of the Superfund Site. Why, when we are planning to implement an over $1B cleanup, would we allow development that would further imperil the river? Why, when we know the devastation that will follow a major earthquake, would we allow development that would increase the impact? And why, at a time when we claim to support environmental justice, would we allow development that is counter to the people and planet first ethos we must adopt if we’re going to survive?
It’s clear that Portland City Council lacks an environmental champion and that we will have to double down on our efforts as a community to hold them accountable. The simplest step you can take today is to follow this link and add your name to the growing list of Portland residents who oppose Zenith Energy’s expansion. If you have a few extra minutes, I’ve included some recommended reading and listening below and two more actions to take.
According to environmental attorney Nick Caleb, “Industry greenwashing is ahead of the science.” We don’t have the data to determine just how carbon-intensive biofuels are. But here are some things we do know that should sound alarms for Zenith Energy expansion—there are significant fire, explosion, and spill hazards involved in the storage and transport of biofuels. We also know that Zenith Energy chose to increase the movement of crude oil and diesel fuel through its Portland terminal this year, “heightening the likelihood of and severity of fires, explosions and spills resulting from train derailments or seismic events.” Why would we trust this company and allow them to significantly expand their capacity on our river? There’s no good reason, only profit and power to gain.
Are you as mad as I am? I hope so.
Chloe
Wonk Out!
Portland City Government Compromised with Oil Industry in Private, Documents Suggest (DeSmog)
Newly obtained records show Portland officials’ private interactions with Zenith Energy (Street Roots)
Portland City Council
Call and Write to Rescind the dirty backroom deal with Zenith NOW!
From Breach Collective: Last year, we thought Portlanders had won an existential battle against Zenith Energy and their deadly Oil Trains when, after months of escalating protests and direct actions, the City denied Zenith a crucial permit. But early this year, we were betrayed by Portland Commissioners Dan Ryan and Carmen Rubio in a backroom deal with Zenith, permitting the facility to endanger Portland with another five years of explosive oil trains. We demand the City Council cancel this dirty deal.
Portland City Council needs to hear this from us: you serve the people of Portland, not a Texas-based fossil fuel corporation trying to wring a few more million dollars out of a dying, deadly industry. Call and write to City Council TODAY!
BACKGROUND: Public records requests revealed how these two commissioners and their staff facilitated and coordinated the entire process of Zenith’s permit from start to finish. The City keeps telling us that this was just a run-of-the-mill administrative decision made by bureau staffers, but records show that while the City was shutting out public participation, Zenith was treating Rubio and Ryan to VIP boat tours and site visits as early as July 2022. This appearance of impropriety taints the City’s decision, and we deserve more transparency about the extent and nature of the backroom coordination between elected officials, City staff, the City Attorney, and Zenith.
Thousands of Portlanders have taken action against Zenith Energy’s plan to increase oil train traffic through its terminal on the Willamette waterfront because it presents a clear and present danger to our communities. The people of Portland and allies all over the country, say no.
Nothing meaningful about Zenith Energy’s operations has changed: these trains are still dangerous, bakken shale oil is highly explosive, tar sands crude is still dirty, and the vast majority of the fuel still won’t even be used here in Portland. Commissioner Ryan made this backroom deal based on nothing but a half-baked promise from Zenith that it would begin the process of transitioning to transporting “renewable fuels” in five years. There is nothing in the deal to hold them to that promise.
Now, the City Council is closing ranks around the deal, claiming they don’t have the authority to revisit the decision or rescind the certification. But Oregon law clearly says they can. This plan goes against the promises and priorities the City of Portland laid out in 2020’s Climate Emergency Workplan, and the City Council has a responsibility to do what it can to stop it.
Sponsored by: Other 98, Mosquito Fleet, Mosquito Fleet PDX
Land Use Services
From Nick Caleb, Staff Attorney for Breach Collective: Earlier this year, city officials engaged in a (behind closed doors, again) negotiation over this proposal and put restrictions on these pipes only for "renewable fuels" Of course, shifting renewables to this infrastructure opens up room to *expand* fossil fuel infrastructure operations, massively increase health & safety risks at the CEI Hub by expanding the total volume of stored fuels, and increase the city's carbon footprint.
If you want to comment on this dangerous proposal, you must do so via email by Sept. 29, 2023:
Timothy Novak (BDS Land Use Services)
Timothy.Novak@portlandoregon.gov
DEQ
“Zenith Energy Terminal Holdings, LLC is a fuel products transloading facility. The company accepts crude oil, diesel, renewable fuels and other fuel products from one mode of transportation, like railcars, and passes them along to another, such as marine vessels. In the interim, fuel products are stored at the facility in above-ground tanks. Zenith Energy is located at 5501 NW Front Avenue in northwest Portland.”
Read the 20-page letter jointly sent to DEQ Director Leah Feldon by Breach Collective, Willamette Riverkeeper, Portland Audubon, Portland Harbor Community Coalition, and Columbia Riverkeeper here: Zenith Energy Air Contaminant Discharge Permit Application
DEQ has yet to acknowledge receipt of this letter, let alone respond. Would you like answers from DEQ about how this project will further its mission of restoring, maintaining, and enhancing the quality of Oregon’s air, land, and water? Write to:
Matthew Davis
Policy and External Relations for Director Feldon
Matthew.Davis@deq.oregon.gov
DEQ Projects: Zenith Energy (DEQ) Here’s a quick rundown of the background and current status of Zenith’s DEQ applications.
Greenstate DEQ Podcast (DEQ) Hear what Director Feldon has to say about environmental justice and tribal relations.