Portland leaders prepare to curb expansion of fossil fuel stations

Portland leaders are preparing to curb expansion of fossil fuel stations after years of legal challenges from industry groups.

They are considering a zoning code change that would prohibit the construction of new fossil fuel stations in the city and prevent the 11 existing stations dotted with the Port of Portland from adding fossil fuel tank capacity. The city defines a fossil fuel station as any facility that transports and stores fossil fuels with “access to marine, rail, or regional pipelines”.

Supporters at a hearing Thursday on the zoning change said the move was a necessary step to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region and prevent a catastrophic oil spill in the Willamette River during the next big earthquake.

“As we work to make our community safer, the first step is to make sure the situation doesn’t get any worse,” said Commissioner Carmen Rubio, who oversees the Office of Planning and Sustainability, who spearheaded the decree. “Continuing to allow new fossil fuel stations and new fossil fuel storage tanks increases risks to the surrounding area, the Willamette River, and the entire city.”

Portland fuel tanks.

Bonnie Stewart / OPB

Ten of the city’s current plants deal with petroleum products (such as fuels, lubricants and asphalt), and one deals with liquid natural gas for winter heating, according to sustainability and planning stewardship scheme Tom Armstrong. All pose a catastrophic spill or explosion hazard in an earthquake.

“All of these stations are located in an area with high mobility and a high risk of liquefaction in a major earthquake,” Armstrong told city council members. “There is no location at lower risk…in Portland where these fossil fuel stations can be located.”

Armstrong said the plants will still be able to add tank capacity for renewables and jet fuel.

This is the third time city leaders have attempted to codify these zoning changes. They first tried in 2016, but that decree has been appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court. The city tried again in 2019, but the region’s major industry groups — the Western States Oil Association, the Portland Business Alliance, Oregon Business and Industry, and the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council — once again fought to pass it. The Land Use Appeal Board, a government agency that has the final say on controversial local land use decisions, said the city has more work to do to prove that changing its zoning code is consistent with its land use policies.

Armstrong told council members that the city’s ongoing battle with oil terminal operator Zenith Energy would not be affected by the decree they were considering. Last year, the city denied a land use compliance statement for Zenith, which operates a controversial oil terminal in the Northwest Portland industrial estate, preventing the operation from expanding. The company has since appealed the decision to the Land Use Appeal Board.

Thursday’s public hearing on the proposed change came hours after a US Supreme Court ruling severely limits the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, which experts say will make it impossible for the federal government to significantly reduce US pollution by the end of the decade. . As President Joe Biden pledged.

“Whether we like it or not, it falls to local governments at this critical moment to regulate the fossil fuel industries in our backyards,” said Ilya Setas, a law student and climate activist.

While the dozens of people who turned out to testify on Thursday unanimously urge the council to pass the ordinance, some accused the city of not going far enough. They argued that the board had instituted a very large exemption for storing renewable fuels and leaving the current eleven stations untouched, operating at their current capacity.

“I should point out that simply blocking expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure does nothing to prevent Portland or the region from derailing oil trains and fires from dangerous oil trains,” said Janet Weil of environmental sanitation group Extinction Rebellion.

City leaders will discuss zoning code changes again — and possibly hold a final vote — on Thursday, July 21.

Asked after Thursday’s hearing if he expected another legal challenge if the ordinance was passed, Armstrong said he was the wrong person to answer.

“We’ll see,” he said. “That’s a good question for the PBA, the Operating Waterfront Coalition, and the Western States Petroleum Association.”

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