Washington council solicits input on proposed crude-oil terminal at Vancouver port

The Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council this week released its draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tesoro Savage Vancouver Energy Distribution Terminal, a crude-oil facility that would be served by rail at the Port of Vancouver.

Published online earlier this week, the DEIS describes the direct, indirect and cumulative environmental impacts of the proposed facility, including the transportation of crude oil by rail to it. Tesoro Savage Petroleum Terminal LLC would construct and operate the terminal.

The council is soliciting public opinion on the DEIS through Jan. 8. A public hearing will be held Jan. 5 in Vancouver and Jan. 7 in Spokane Valley, Wash.

About 360,000 barrels of crude oil per day by rail would be delivered to the terminal, where it would be temporarily stored and then loaded onto marine vessels and shipped to existing refineries on the West Coast, according to the DEIS summary.

The crude oil would be delivered in unit trains consisting of up to 120 sole-purpose crude-oil tank cars. An average of four unit trains would arrive at the facility each day, although a fifth train in a day may arrive on occasion.

All tank cars arriving at the facility would be required to meet the U.S. Department of Transportation's new DOT-117 tank-car standards, which were issued earlier this year by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration.