Dear Governor Inslee and Washington EFSEC: I urge you to assess the full impact of Tesoro Savage’s proposal to ship 360,000 barrels of oil each day through Spokane, the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Vancouver and the Columbia River. Oil-by-rail and export by ship is a bad deal for Washington State and the entire Northwest region. The project comes at a steep price for rail and river communities throughout the state and along the Columbia River, yet offers few jobs in return. Based on the far reaching impacts of this project, I urge you to deny Tesoro Savage’s unprecedented proposal. The public safety and environmental impacts of the state’s largest pipeline-on-wheels proposal deserve close scrutiny. For example, EFSEC must assess: •The potential impacts of a large train-related oil spill along the rail route in Washington and beyond. •The transportation and public health impacts of additional unit train traffic through communities along the proposed oil-by-rail route. This includes evaluating emergency response capabilities in Vancouver, where oil trains would deliver and store oil, and other communities along the rail and shipping route. •The increased risk of an oil tanker spill on Washington State waters and along the shipping route. •The project’s impact on climate change. This analysis should include climate change impacts from crude oil as well as tar sands oil from cradle to grave. After carefully considering the safety, environmental, and climate risks associated with the project, I respectfully ask you to deny Tesoro Savage’s application. Thank you.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 12:38:44 +0000