It is difficult, after more than four years, to come up with the proper words to mark the demise of a proposed oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver. From the public, from elected officials, from the Editorial Board of The Columbian, many thoughts and many emotions have been spilled in discussing and debating the issue.
Therefore, we are left with these: The oil terminal is dead, long live the oil terminal.
While that ancient proclamation traditionally has been used to mark the passage of one king and to herald the ascension of a successor, we shall use it for another purpose: To note the passage of the proposal and to celebrate its legacy upon this community. The saga has provided a defining moment for Clark County.
Since coming to the attention of the public in 2013, the idea of the terminal has galvanized a large percentage of local residents in shared opposition. It has forced us to deeply consider what we wish for our community and what we wish to leave behind for future generations. It has led us to take a big-picture view of Southwest Washington and to weigh our strengths while measuring the counterweight that would have been provided by placing North America’s largest rail-to-marine oil terminal near the heart of the city.
In the end, when Port of Vancouver commissioners agreed last week to end a lease with Andeavor (formerly Tesoro Corp.) and Savage Cos., it represented a victory for all of those have taken stock of their community and worked to mold it into their image of a vibrant, growing, attractive city. That includes residents who attended numerous public hearings, those who provided public comment, and those who voted to remake the port’s board of commissioners.
The election of Eric LaBrant in 2015 and Don Orange in 2017 to the port commission signaled the inevitable demise of the terminal proposal, giving anti-terminal forces a majority on the three-member board of commissioners. It also signaled the power of the grass-roots movement that stood in opposition to the terminal, with both LaBrant and Orange being drawn to public life because of that opposition.
When Gov. Jay Inslee last month followed the unanimous recommendation of the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council and rejected an application for the terminal, it became clear that the project’s prospects were minimal. But it wasn’t until last week, when port commissioners and the companies involved mutually agreed to end the lease, that the death knell was sounded.
Long live the oil terminal.
We say that not as a taunt to those who supported the proposal, but in recognition of the power of the people. The process has been a trying one, and yet we are emboldened by the dedication and the persistence of those who recognized that an oil terminal would run counter to an appropriate vision for our community. Stamping Vancouver as an oil town would damage our potential as an environmentally conscious region ready to embrace the economy of the future.
Fighting against deep-pocketed oil interests can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor, yet it was the right thing to do for Vancouver, Clark County, and all of Washington. In the process, we have been inspired by the citizens of this county and we have been informed about the power of peaceful, informed, devoted public engagement. We hope those lessons linger as we all work to create a dynamic, economically energetic city.
The oil terminal is dead. Long live the oil terminal.
