What a week! The bad financial news for coal export prospects in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia has come almost too quickly to track. So for those of you who don’t follow the coal press as religiously as I do, here’s a brief summary of all of the goings-on in Northwest coal export finance over the last … Read more
Voters in Whatcom County, Washington, are about to bubble in their views on an obscure ballot measure that would tweak the structure of elections, changing from county-wide elections to district-only. It’s the sort of governance minutiae that’s typically overlooked by political observers and citizens alike, but in this case, the stakes are high. As we … Read more
After the stock markets closed yesterday, Cloud Peak Energy dropped a bombshell announcement: the company now expects to put all coal exports on hiatus from 2016 through 2018. It was shocking news, coming from a company that had long made Asian exports the centerpiece of its growth strategy. But what made the news all the more shocking was … Read more
Another day, another coal company circling the drain. Today’s victim is Arch Coal, one of the two backers of the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminal coal export project in Longview, Washington. The company is in deep financial doo-doo, mostly because it took on massive debts to buy new coal mines at the peak of the coal bubble … Read more
After a brief bubble of enthusiasm a few years back, the prospects for Northwest coal exports have dimmed dramatically. But despite wave after wave of dismal news for would-be exporters, the developers of massive coal export terminals in Washington and British Columbia keep marching forward, bound and determined to see their projects approved, built, operational, and channeling upwards of 100 … Read more
In case you were wondering, the bad news for coal exporters keeps rolling in. Take, for instance, the latest figures from the Ridley coal export terminal in northern BC: Clearly, the precipitous decline in coal exports from the terminal is still underway. Metallurgical (steelmaking) coal had been the mainstay of the terminal since 2010, accounting for more than … Read more
Editor’s note: The Seattle Times recently published a guest opinion regarding oil trains. It contained some unfortunate errors. Sightline Policy Director Eric de Place and Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart penned this response.
On September 13, the Seattle Times published an opinion piece by Richard Berkowitz attacking, among other things, advocacy groups, communities worried about oil trains, and research published by Sightline Institute. Unfortunately, his article dismisses the threats that oil trains pose to Northwest cities—and it fails to confront the facts about a rickety, born-yesterday industry.
Here’s a fact: new projects could induce as many as 100 loaded crude oil trains per week to transit Washington. That number, first published by Sightline Institute, comes directly from adding up the industry’s own figures in publicly available permitting documents.
Next month, Eric de Place will head to Tacoma to discuss how oil trains and other dirty energy proposals put Tacoma residents—and their wallets—at risk.
It was just a few days before Christmas 1988 when an oil barge accident near the entrance of Grays Harbor unleashed one of the most damaging spills in Northwest history. It was quickly eclipsed by the grounding of the Exxon Valdez just three months later, and today the story of the Nestucca is largely forgotten.
As it turns out, some of the same conditions that led to the Nestucca’s tremendous impact are still with us today. Sightline is studying the accident—and its aftermath—to understand what might happen if the oil industry succeeds in building the three new shipping terminals it has planned for Grays Harbor. In this installment, we tell the story of what happened.
On December 21, 1988, workers at BP’s Cherry Point refinery loaded the tank barge Nestucca with 2.8 million gallons of No. 6 fuel oil. Also known as Bunker C oil and “black tar crude,” No. 6 fuel oil is dark, viscous, and sticky. It literally comes from the bottom of the barrel of refined petroleum, and it resembles tar or asphalt. Plans called for the steel tug Ocean Service to tow the 300-foot Nestucca to Aberdeen (located inside Grays Harbor) to unload some cargo before continuing on to Portland.
Both vessels were operated by Sause Brothers, a BP North America Petroleum contractor based in Coos Bay, Oregon. Sause put five men onboard the Ocean Service tug. Both the captain and chief engineer held maritime licenses from the US Coast Guard, yet federal safety laws required at least half the other crew members hold an “able seaman” certification—none of them met this standard.
Around 11:15 pm on December 22, the ocean swells at Grays Harbor were moderate, and there was little wind. In preparation to cross the bar into the harbor, the crew tightened the towing wire that connected the Nestucca to the Ocean Service. As the captain turned the tug to prepare for entry, the tow wire suddenly snapped. The Nestucca began to drift toward the shore.
The oil industry’s plans to build new shipping terminals on the Washington coast could jeopardize a crown jewel of the Northwest’s natural heritage. The ecologically rich estuary of Grays Harbor fuels one of the western hemisphere’s most prolific feeding grounds for migrating birds even as it supports a major crab fishery and vital resources for the indigenous Quinault who have inhabited the area for thousands of years. The region’s welcoming beaches host millions of visitors annually and also support more than 24 wildlife species listed as endangered or sensitive.
Yet proposals for three developments to move crude oil from trains to ocean-going vessels could put it all at risk. Over the next few weeks, Sightline will examine some of the best research on the risks to Grays Harbor’s heritage, including economic studies by the Quinault Nation and the Surfrider Foundation. In this installment—as public comment periods on these oil projects have just begun—Sightline enumerates some of what’s at stake in Grays Harbor.
Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge
Grays Harbor is considered the single most important shorebird feeding area on the Pacific Coast. The 1,471-acre refuge lies within the bay near Hoquiam. As many as 24 shorebird species use the refuge, and up to a million shorebirds gather throughout the area in spring and fall to feed and rest. Accordingly, Grays Harbor is designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Site. An accessible boardwalk provides a means to develop education programs for up to a million people who visit each year.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
Additional Cookies
This website uses social media to collect anonymous information such as which platform are our users coming from.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us better reach our audiences.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
