Petroleum | Be a Seed for Change

Port of Vancouver : Don’t open the floodgates to dirty oil ~~ Reject Tesoro‘s proposed oil export facility

www.change.org

Vancouver, Washington is my home. I live here with my nine-year-old daughter, and I am so proud of my city for being a leader in supporting safe, healthy communities. But, right now, oil giant Tesoro is proposing a new project that would transform the Port of Vancouver into one of the West Coast’s largest oil ports — and would drastically increase the carbon pollution fueling droughts, wildfires, and severe storms all over the world.

Tesoro’s proposal would potentially ship up to 360,000 barrels of crude oil every day along the Columbia River and would release more than 56 million metric tons of carbon pollution each year, as much as almost 12 million cars worth of greenhouse gas pollution.

I want the best for my daughter. I want her to live in a community that is safe, healthy, and forward-thinking. If the Port of Vancouver Commissioners approve this application from Tesoro, my family and friends will be at a greater risk for asthma and other health problems. We’ll be at a greater risk, too, of devastating oil spills and environmental contamination.

The dangers from this oil export facility are too great. Earlier this month, an oil train derailed and exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, killing several people and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes due to the fire and explosions. The proposed Tesoro oil export facility would carry the exact same kind of oil that tragically burned the Quebec town. The terminal would put more than 1,400 trains every year — four full trains every day — on route through Vancouver neighborhoods.

And even if we are lucky enough to avoid a tragedy like the horrific explosion in Quebec, this project is still a disaster for our community. It would increase the production of — and pollution from — dirty fossil fuels across the country. Right now, Vancouver is a leading shipper of wind turbine components. If this proposal is approved, instead of being a leader, exporting renewable energy solutions, Vancouver would become a leading pusher of the fossil fuels that are driving global climate change.

We can make a difference. Three years ago, the Port of Vancouver Commission rejected a proposal for a coal port after the community spoke out. With enough public outcry, we can make sure they make the right decision again.

At a time when we desperately need solutions that protect our climate and communities, this proposal is a major step backward. Please, send a message to the Vancouver Port Commissioners and tell them to reject Tesoro’s dangerous proposal.

O Canada !

By now you have likely heard about last weekend’s horrifying oil spill in which Exxon’s pipeline ruptured and spilled 42,000 gallons of crude oil onto Yellowstone River’s overflowing banks.

What we’ve learned since the spill is that federal regulators warned Exxon about problems with its pipeline in 2009. Then Friday happened, spilling oil into one of the world’s most beautiful places.

Here is the full story. In July 2009, federal inspectors found evidence that an above-ground span of Exxon’s pipeline in Montana had become submerged under a creek and was piling up debris. Nearly 20 months later, in March of this year, Exxon reported that it was “evaluating control measures to keep future debris from accumulating over the pipeline.”

Last weekend, in the same region cited in the inspection, the same pipeline ruptured during record flooding of the Yellowstone River. Oil has already been found hundreds of miles away.

Exxon’s spill in Montana is just the latest in a string of accidents as long as the industry is old. And while Big Oil says that it is learning from its mistakes, even its newest pipelines can’t seem to contain the increasingly corrosive oil, much of which is mined from Canada’s tar sands.

We don’t need more pipelines. And we don’t need more dirty oil. Most analysts actually expect a steady decline in U.S. demand for oil. What we do need is a system of regulations and penalties that keep our communities safe from the pipelines already in the ground

Thanks for taking action to stop more oil spills!

For a clean energy future,

Brant Olson
Freedom From Oil Campaign Director