Advocates say seismic hazards at Portland Fuel Center should be fixed

Most of Oregon's fuel supply is kept for distribution at the critical energy infrastructure hub in Portland, but the site is highly vulnerable to earthquake damage.

PORTLAND, OR – Dozens of Portland neighborhood associations, environmental organizations and other community groups have sent an open letter to city, county, state and federal officials, calling for increased public education and a coordinated plan to address earthquake vulnerabilities in the region. The city's critical energy infrastructure hub.

The center consists of dozens of industrial-scale fuel tanks that contain about 90% of Oregon's gas and diesel supplies before distribution, and is located on a six-mile stretch of Willamette River shoreline that is highly vulnerable to soil liquefaction, creating the potential for a catastrophic spill of about 100-200 million A gallon of fuel when the next big earthquake arrives.

State lawmakers stepped in with Senate Bill 1567 in 2022, which would require bulk fuel terminal operators to conduct seismic vulnerability assessments and then develop and implement state-approved mitigation plans. The Portland groups' open letter on Tuesday called the legislation “a laudable first step, but not enough.”

At a press conference organized by the letter writers, speakers emphasized that the danger of the Cascadia subduction zone has been known for decades, but they also stressed that earthquakes are not the only danger, pointing to disasters such as wildfires and oil train derailments.

“We're no safer now than we were 30 years ago,” Linton neighborhood resident Nancy Heiser said. “It is clear that disasters are not only caused by earthquakes…Lightning strikes are the main cause of oil tank fires and explosions around the world. Floods are occurring with increasing frequency, and the epicenter is located on floodplains, on liquefied soil.”

The letter outlines six additional steps for state and local governments to take, starting with a broad information campaign to make the public more aware of the center's risks outlined in a risk analysis commissioned by Portland and Multnomah County in 2020. For governments to “monitor and address” pollution from existing day-to-day operations The center developed a new plan for storing fuel at the state level.

It also calls on the companies that operate the center to “take full financial responsibility” for disaster prevention and cleanup efforts in the event of a disaster, and asks the state Legislature to issue new regulations to help local government agencies track fuels. And other chemicals that enter and exit the center. Finally, the letter urges state officials to closely monitor Zenith Energy's transition from crude oil to renewable fuels.

Hesser was joined Tuesday by speakers, including Multnomah County Office of Emergency Management Director Chris Voss, former Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Committee member Jay Wilson, Portland Planning Commission member Michael Pouncell, and former Multnomah County Medical Director Patricia Kohlberg.

“We don't want East Palestine, Ohio – spilling 100,000 gallons of chemicals. We don't want Mosier, Washington – spilling 47,000 gallons of oil. We don't want Lac-Mégantic, Canada – spilling 1.6 million gallons of oil,” Pouncell said.

Voss echoed Pouncil's comments and stressed that the size of a potential CEI spill would dwarf the amounts spilled in those other major disasters.

“If Cascadia happened tomorrow, being like one of those cities might be the best scenario for us, because of the risks we face,” he said.

KGW reached out to Mayor Ted Wheeler for comment and received a response from Commissioner Carmen Rubio's office, stating that the state is the lead agency for the CEI Hub project but describing the city as supportive of the work.

“Our office is serious about moving faster and more aggressively away from fossil fuels. In 2022, we issued rules to permanently halt the expansion of fossil fuel storage capacity at CEI, and we updated our Renewable Fuels Standard to increase the use of clean biodiesel and fuels,” Rubio’s office wrote. “Renewable diesel,” he also pointed to 2022 state legislation and called for action from federal Congress to maintain safety on trains transporting fossil fuels.

The statement also noted that mitigation plans required by the operator under SB 1567 are due June 1, and the Legislature allocated additional funding to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality earlier this year to cover the cost of evaluating the plans and setting timelines for remediation.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.kgw.com/article/tech/science/environment/portland-groups-urge-officials-address-fuel-hub-earthquake/283-d602a5e6-b1cc-4cef-9dad-72520f60f424 The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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