Just before northbound traffic reaches the St. Johns Bridge, three new billboards have appeared on Hwy 30/St Helens Road in Linnton. They are part of the Tank the Tanks campaign. The billboards perch alongside the six mile-long Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub. The four women behind the campaign warn that this is a blast zone. Sandwiched between this road and the Willamette River are 600 storage tanks filled with highly explosive fuel. The women’s message: In order to keep Portland safe, those tanks must go.
On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with two of these women, Nancy Hiser and Shawn Looney, who live right in Linnton at the north end of the CEI Hub. For years they have worked to get industry and government to take action to make the CEI Hub safer.: testifying at hearings, writing letters, hosting community forums, lobbying elected officials, and more, all to no avail. We talk about why these billboards are part of a strategy to make many more people aware of this situation and demand that action be taken.
- KBOO