My wife and I bought our first home here in Vancouver, in 2014. Shortly thereafter, we learned of Tesoro’s intent to build the largest rail-to-marine oil terminal in the United States at the Port of Vancouver.
Tesoro has had more toxic Superfund sites than any other oil company, and seven people died at the existing Tesoro refinery in Anacortes — Washington state’s worst such disaster in over 50 years.
The Mosier, Ore., oil train accident should be our final wake-up call, a clarion bell of common sense. The geology of the ground underneath the tracks and the state of the tracks themselves are not ever going to guarantee that this will not happen again. There have already been over 12 oil train explosions in the United States and Canada in just the last few years.
Why on earth would anyone want to so severely blemish the amazing natural beauty of the Columbia Gorge? What about the treaties made with the Native Americans? Let us transition to something better for our children and grandchildren and stop leaving them toxic wastelands for our legacy. We are better than this.
