Overview of environmental permitting process for proposed crude oil facility will be rescheduled

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Due to a last minute scheduling conflict, the commission workshop on the environmental permitting process for a proposed crude oil facility at the Port of Vancouver has been postponed. Originally planned for this coming Tuesday, May 28, the workshop will be rescheduled for a later date, most likely in June.

The environmental permitting workshop will be the second in a series tied directly to the April 22 announcement of plans by longtime port tenant Tesoro to construct and operate a crude oil facility at the port. In a joint venture with the logistics company Savage, Tesoro is proposing to bring North American crude oil to the port by rail where it would then be transferred to marine vessels for transport to refineries in California, Washington and Alaska. The first workshop in the series occurred on May 14 and focused on marine safety and oil spill response capabilities.

The purpose of the workshops is to provide information to the commissioners as they prepare to consider a lease with the Tesoro-Savage Joint Venture. It is anticipated that the proposed lease will come before the commissioners in July of this year.

The regular May 28 meeting of the port’s Board of Commissioners will occur as planned. Commissioners Jerry Oliver, Brian Wolfe and Nancy Baker will attend to routine port business, including the consideration of action items, approval of minutes and the payment of vouchers. Open session begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission Room at the port’s administrative building located at 3103 NW Lower River Road, Vancouver.

For those community members not able to attend Tuesday’s meeting, it will be televised live on CVTV (cable channels 21 and 23) beginning at 9:30 a.m. It also will be streamed live on www.cvtv.org and will be archived later in the day on the same website for future viewing. A link to the program, as well as a link to the May 14 workshop on Marine Safety and Oil Spill Response, also will be available on the port’s website at www.portvanusa.com. 

The Port of Vancouver USA is one of the major ports on the Pacific Coast, and its competitive strengths include available land, versatile cargo handling capabilities, vast transportation networks, a dependable labor force and an exceptional level of service to its customers and community. For more information, please visit us at www.portvanusa.com.

 – POV –