Problem
Port desicion delayed, new Port of St. Helens meeting on Dec. 12th at 8:30 a.m.

The Port of St. Helens’ proposed new amended lease with Global Partners, the fossil fuel company intends to increase tank storage capacity and in the future ship a heavier type of crude oil through Columbia County to Clatskanie (Port Westward). Currently, the lease regulates the type of crude they can transport. The lifting of these restrictions would put the community into additional danger:

• Global's Oil Spill Contingency Plan does not address how they would handle potentially sinking oil. According to the plan, Global can "receive light sweet crude oil (crude oil) or other ethanol products via railcar and transload the material to barges on the Columbia River." Nothing in the plan appears to address potentially sinking oils. The plan revolves around booms, which will not be effective for sinking oils.

• The change proposed by Global would need DEQ approval. Their current plan does not have adequate provisions for sinking oils, and it may not address toxic inhalation hazards adequately.

• Some of the heavier types of crude aren't just flammable or a potentially sinking spill risk. They are also a toxic inhalation hazard. We see this at the Zenith terminal in Portland, where cars are placarded "Toxic Inhalation Hazard" as well as "1267" for crude oil. See attached photos from Zenith, which has been moving some tar sands. This is a problem for first responders. They may need access to additional equipment to deal with a spill involving a substance that has a toxic inhalation hazard.

• Tar sands spills (or any sinking oil spill) are extremely difficult to contain and clean up. This is well-documented. See Washington Department of Ecology's fact sheet here. (WA has a more advanced spill response program.) Oil with an API of 10 or less will sink. Some oils that are lighter may degrade into a sinking oil when more volatile constituents evaporate. 

• A large spill of tar sands in Kalamazoo, MI (from a pipeline) cost more than $1.21 billion to clean up, for which the company was also heavily fined. The oil escaped initial attempts to boom and contain it. And just this summer, a crude oil train carrying heavy oil derailed in Doon, Iowa, spilling over 200,000 gallons of oil.

• In short, Global hasn't planned adequately to handle heavier types of oil. And handling heavier oil will create major new risks for people, the environment and potentially even first responders.

• Lastly, on March 27, 2014, DEQ issued a civil penalty to Columbia Pacific Bio-Refinery (Global Partners) for establishing a new major source of air pollution without a permit. Here is DEQ's enforcement order. They fined Global $117k, initially. Global has a dubious track record when it comes to planning ahead for the environmental impacts of its operations.

Solution
We've spoken out about the dangers of these unit trains full of crude oil for a long time. Now the danger is back, please stand in solidarity, raise your voice for the environment today by Signing and Sharing this petition to let the St. Helens Port Commissioners know we don't support this and neither should they, say NO to Global Partners proposal! Keeping school children and families safe from exploding tankers cars along the railroad tracks and safeguarding the Columbia River fisheries is significantly more important than creating a few additional lower wage jobs for a Port tenant.