Vancouver Energy: Gov. Inslee's crude-oil permit rejection is 'anti-development'

Vancouver Energy is "evaluating its options" following Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's decision to reject a permit that would allow the company to build a proposed crude-oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver.

Inslee announced Jan. 29 that he had accepted the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council's recommendation to reject a permit for Tesoro Savage Petroleum Terminal LLC — also known as Vancouver Energy — to construct and operate a crude-oil terminal in the state. The terminal would have been located on the Columbia River.

In a written statement issued Jan. 30, Vancouver Energy officials said Inslee's endorsement of the council's "faulty recommendation" sets an "impossible standard for permitting new energy facilities in the state."

"After four years of study and tens of millions of dollars, the Vancouver Energy facility and associated state‐of‐the-art facilities would have been far superior and more robust with regard to the potential for an earthquake or oil spill, than the crude oil trains that are already moving through the state every day and virtually all existing infrastructure in Washington," according to the statement.

"The Final Environmental Impact Statement confirmed that construction and normal operation of the Vancouver Energy terminal would have no significant unavoidable impacts that cannot be mitigated. Rejecting essential infrastructure on the basis of risks the evaluation council found to be extremely unlikely, and which are inherent to transportation occurring across the country today, is no way to govern," it continued.

Inslee's decision also sends an "anti-development" message that will have far-reaching consequences for industries across the state, Vancouver Energy officials added.