Screen_shot_2015-11-14_at_12.41.17_PM.png
  • Wikimedia Commons

Portland City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to oppose all future fossil fuel projects in the area. The vote instructs Bureau of Planning and Sustainability staff to examine existing code and policies and make changes that will support the city’s intention to keep fossil fuel storage and export projects from coming through the Columbia Gorge and leaving local ports.

Thursday’s vote was the second of two decisions that local environmental activists have labeled “historic” and put Portland back in the lead as far as upholding its reputation for being green. Last week, council passed a resolution introduced by Commissoner Amanda Fritz that announced the city’s opposition to oil trains coming into Vancouver and Portland via the Columbia Gorge.

Mayor Charlie Hales’ resolution seeks to keep new fossil fuel projects out of Portland based on their threat to the environment as well as the health and safety of residents.

“Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is breaking the climate gridlock at the national and international level, showing us that cities and local governments can lead the way, powered by local grassroots activists,” says Adriana Voss-Andreae, director of 350PDX. “It’s a powerful sign that the the fossil fuel era is beginning to come to an end and that we are the change we’ve been looking for.”

In an interesting coincidence, Union Pacific on Friday informed the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) that it plans to increase railway shipments from North Dakota’s Bakken formation through the Columbia River Gorge, according to a recent article in the Portland Tribune.

ODOT Rail and Public Transit Division Administrator Hal Gard says this could mean more than 3 million gallons of additional oil could make its way through the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area each month.

Native American Tribes, residents of small towns, and environmental groups have long expressed their fear that these “bomb trains” could derail, possibly spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into Columbia River waters, decimating fisheries, and possibly exploding.

5 replies on “Portland Says No to Oil, Just as Union Pacific Announces it’s Shipping More Through the Pacific Northwest”

  1. Less than 6% of Oregon’s grid power comes from renewable energy and the freeways are choked with gasoline burning automobiles and you can say with a straight face that the fossil fuel era is coming to an end?

  4. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about the huge dams. In an effort to sort of gerrymander the states energy “portfolio”, they don’t include hydro power as a renewable energy even though it is. By including hydro, the utilities would already meet the goals of the 2025 renewable standard. So somehow, in ten years, we need to add almost 4 times the renewable energy into the grid than we have now.

Comments are closed.