For severn years Portlanders have been trying to stop Zenith Energy's oil trains from threatening the health and safety of our community. After nearly three years of community protests and public meetings, the City of Portland denied Zenith’s application for a Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS), because the potential adverse impacts of Zenith’s oil-by-rail facility are not compatible with the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Without a LUCS, Zenith’s application to the Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a renewed Title V air pollution permit could not be granted. Zenith appealed the LUCS denial to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals and then the Oregon Court of Appeals and lost both times. But days before the Oregon Supreme Court chose not to hear the appeal, the City of Portland quietly approved a third LUCs for Zenith Energy, approving five more years of dangerous oil operations in exchange for a promise to switch to “renewable” fuels in five years.
Last fall DEQ scheduled a hearing and comment period for Zenith's air pollution permit, but as a result of information received from the public in an information session hosted by DEQ, they paused the public comment period to investigate Zenith. Yet in the meantime the city administrator granted Zenith a new LUCS.
Now Oregon DEQ has opened a public comment period as they consider granting the Air Contaminant Discharge Permit to Zenith. Today we talk with Dineen Crowe with 350PDX and Samantha Hernandez with Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility about what you can do to make sure Zenith is not allowed to continue putting our communities and our planet at risk.
For more information: https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/campaigns/zenith-oil-by-rail/