After six years of opposition from the fossil fuel industry and local business groups, Portland is introducing a third iteration of a policy to restrict the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in the city. While conservationists have praised city leaders for their tenacity in crafting the ordinance, they believe additional gaps need to be filled.

“As we work to make our community safer, the first step is to make sure the situation doesn’t get worse,” City Commissioner Carmen Rubio said during a council meeting on Thursday. “Continuing to allow new fossil fuel terminals and new fossil fuel storage tanks increases the risk of industrial distraction from the surrounding area, the Willamette River and the entire city.”

The ordinance, titled Fossil Fuel Terminal Zoning, is an updated version of rules introduced by City Council in 2016. At the time, the policy was the first local law in the country to restrict fossil fuel expansion.

Portland is particularly affected by fossil fuel infrastructure. The city is home to a 6-mile stretch of industrial fossil fuel storage tanks, or terminals, in North Portland along the Willamette River called the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) hub. The hub supplies liquid fuel to more than 90% of the state, including all jet fuel for Portland International Airport, and can store at least 350 million gallons of fuel, such as gasoline, crude oil and diesel, at any time. For years, the city has recognized that the CEI Hub is an impending disaster.

According to a joint study by the City of Portland and Multnomah County, in the event of a major earthquake, such as the 9.0 magnitude Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, the unstable ground beneath the CEI Hub reservoirs would liquefy and spread. More than 90% of industrial tanks were built before modern seismic technology existed and have no resistance to an earthquake, meaning nearly 200 million gallons of toxic fuels could spill into the river Willamette. The potential spill could be comparable to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which is considered the most egregious environmental disaster on record, except instead of happening in the middle of the ocean, it would happen. in the urban core of Portland. The spill would be devastating to the environment and human health and would result in an estimated $2.6 billion cleanup.

Given the risk of oil spills and the negative climate impacts of fossil fuels, the 2016 ordinance was hailed as a crucial step towards a greener Portland.

Then the Western States Petroleum Association, a lobby representing the majority of CEI Hub companies, challenged the policy in court. The Portland Business Alliance – a lobby group representing more than 100 businesses in the city – also opposed the policy, saying imposing restrictions on fossil fuel expansion would limit local jobs and restrict access fuel for local businesses. The lawsuit, although appealed all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court, was decided in favor of the city, the Land Use Appeal Board (LUBA) determining that while the city has the legal authority to adopt the policy, it must provide additional evidence in the policy to support it.

Portland officials introduced a second version of the policy in 2019 in an effort to address LUBA’s concerns. Again, the Western States Petroleum Association challenged the policy, with LUBA again finding that the city was right, but needed to address some concerns under the policy.

At a city council meeting on Thursday, the city presented the third iteration of the policy to satisfy the 2019 LUBA decision.

The latest version of the policy includes an amendment that explicitly allows exceptions for the expansion of renewable fuels and jet fuel in the city. According to studies commissioned by the city, the demand for jet fuel is expected to increase in the future. Since the CEI Hub provides all of the airport’s jet fuel, the policy will allow for the expansion of fossil fuel reservoirs that exclusively supply jet fuel.

According to federal data, demand for transported fuels at CEI HUb outside of jet fuel will remain stagnant through 2050 as fuel efficiency improves and people switch to electrical appliances and cars. Despite the projected lack of demand, the policy will allow the expansion of infrastructure exclusively used for renewable fuels, such as biodiesel.

Other policy changes clarify language, such as defining the difference between fossil fuels and renewable fuels, and describing the characteristics of bulk fossil fuel terminals.

Regional officials praised the city for moving the policy forward, especially as some federal climate policies have been weakened. The town meeting came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the federal government lacks the power to limit the amount of emissions from power plants in the country – a blow to the one of the main tools of the country to fight against the climate. change.

“This decision makes it clear that federal regulatory authority will likely continue to be reduced, making local action on a multitude of environmental fronts even more critical,” Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal said during of the city council meeting. “We must use all the tools at our disposal to act now to protect our shared future and minimize the harm threatened by the storage and transportation of fossil fuels.”

Environmental activists from local organizations such as Columbia Riverkeeper, Breach Collective and Extinction Rebellion also celebrated the policy development, but urged the city to reconsider the exception to allow renewable fuels expansion.

“Biodiesel and renewable fuels explode and belch flames and smoke when the earthquake hits, just like fossil fuels,” said Extinction Rebellion member Lynn Handlin. “Electrification, reducing usage through better building codes, transforming our transportation system to expand public transit, not expand highways, pedestrian and bicycle options are the way forward. We can’t find our way to solving this problem.

Several commentators have urged the city to remove the amendment that allows expansion of renewable fuels, or only allow new renewable fuel infrastructure to replace existing fossil fuel infrastructure.

City Council will continue discussion of the Ordinance on Thursday, July 21, during which time it may add additional amendments. Written comments on the order will be accepted until 5 p.m. on July 7.