TACOMA — Tacoma’s LNG site at the Port of Tacoma has faced a steady stream of critics since the start of its construction, and now the fight is moving into court.
A legal challenge was filed Tuesday in Thurston County Superior Court against the state Department of Ecology by Advocates for a Cleaner Tacoma, in a petition for judicial review of agency action on the issuance of water quality certification for the project.
In the filing, ACT, led by Tacoma resident Todd Hay, contends that “On June 10, 2019, the Department of Ecology denied ACT and Sierra Club’s request to reopen Ecology Administrative Order No. 13764, which granted a 401 Water Quality Certification … for PSE’s proposed liquefied natural gas plant” in Tacoma.
“Although the Army Corps of Engineers has already issued the 404 permit for the Project, Ecology’s duty to comply with (the State Environmental Policy Act) … is not moot.”
The case contends that Ecology violated SEPA issuing the certification without a full analysis in regard to the site’s emissions and other environmental effects.
Representatives for both the Department of Ecology and PSE, reached Tuesday by The News Tribune, declined to comment on the case pending further review.
ACT is a local nonprofit “committed to preserving, protecting, and improving the quality of the air, water, and land of Tacoma and surrounding communities,” as it describes itself in the filing, and has taken an active role in opposing the LNG project.
Hay, who was interviewed by The News Tribune about the LNG project in fall 2018, has a website that includes data on the project.
He explained in fall 2018 that his research about the LNG project is separate from his day job at NOAA Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. He also is a member of the city’s Sustainable Tacoma Commission.
Hay’s website highlights issues with the greenhouse gas life cycle analysis used by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for the final supplemental environmental impact statement on the project, set to fuel TOTE Maritime Alaska vessels and serve residential and commercial customers with natural gas reserves during extreme cold weather periods.
Both the draft report and the final version accepted by PSCAA were denounced by those opposed to the project, including Gov. Jay Inslee, who withdrew support for the project and a methanol project in Kalama, which also once was planned for Tacoma.
“I cannot in good conscience support continued construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Tacoma or a methanol production facility in Kalama,” he said in a statement May 8.
That, in turn, forced PSE and the Port of Tacoma to issue statements in defense of the project.
“We’re confident that science and fact continue to support this facility,” spokesman Andy Wappler said in response to Inslee’s remarks at that time.
