The Port of Vancouver has closed the door on courting bulk fossil fuel terminals, some 17 months after Gov. Jay Inslee rejected plans to build a giant crude oil terminal on port property.
The Columbian reports on Tuesday port commissioners approved a policy that says the port chooses not to pursue new bulk fossil fuel terminals on port-owned industrial property.
Community activists heralded the decision as a win for embracing community safety and livability and for fighting global climate change on the local level.
Commissioner Jerry Oliver, who cast the lone dissenting vote, hinted that he doesn't believe the widely accepted scientific connection between climate change and greenhouse gases emitted by burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.
Tuesday's decision could be an epilogue to the rancorous fight over the rejected Tesoro-Savage joint venture, which would have brought up to 360,000 barrels of highly flammable Bakken crude oil a day to Vancouver by rail.
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