. — The Billings-based Northern Plains Resource Council organized a caravan of Montanans from across the state this week to testify in Spokane Valley against the building of the proposed Tesoro Savage crude oil export facility in Vancouver, Wash. The voices of Montanans joined the large majority of nearly 300 people raising a number of issues overlooked by the project’s draft environmental impact statement.
The port would be the largest of its kind in North America and would increase the number of oil trains crossing the Hi-Line and the southern rail route through Montana’s largest communities. Tesoro Savage would put 360,000 barrels of crude oil on Montana’s rails each day. Montana would see an additional eight oil trains, loaded or empty, per day.
Northern Plains found several deficiencies in the draft EIS for the facility, including not taking into account the use of Montana’s southern, more populous rail route to transport volatile Bakken crude, in addition to overlooking the serious safety concerns that increased rail traffic entails.
“Our state, our residents, and our landscapes will be affected by this proposed oil terminal, but these effects were not adequately addressed in the draft EIS” testified Kate French of Bozeman, Chair of Northern Plains. “This exclusion is unacceptable and our concerns deserve sincere consideration. The final EIS needs to take into consideration the impacts that the terminal would have on all Montana rail communities, not just the Hi-Line routes assumed in the EIS, but the “low-line” route that affects so many of our larger communities in Montana.”
“Like most communities along the tracks, our little volunteer department is in no way equipped to handle a spill or explosion,” said John Woodland, recently retired Fire Chief for Superior in Mineral County. “We have a few five-gallon jugs of class B foam, and a volunteer response of between 9 and 14 volunteers for any one incident. Such an incident could also prevent several of our volunteers from even reaching the fire hall. An explosion during the drier part of the year will start a wildlands fire that will burn through neighborhoods we will not be able to even reach.
“We need to be investing in the technology of today and tomorrow, not doubling down on yesterday’s dangerous energy sources.”
Heidi Anderson, a Northern Plains member and Gardiner botanist, gave a compelling testimony about her own concerns with rail safety, urging Washington State’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (which conducted the hearing) to include a more comprehensive safety analysis of rail crossings in Montana communities in the EIS. “Every three hours a person or vehicle is hit by a train…. At the end of the day, we all want our friends and family to come home safe.”
The hearing was held in Spokane Valley, Wash., and was the last of three hearings on the project. Written comments are being accepted through Jan. 22, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will make the final decision on authorizing the construction of the facility.
