Local environmental advocates remain frustrated with Mayor Keith Wilson over his handling of Zenith Energy, saying he has not kept his promise to revoke the Houston-based fossil fuel company’s land use credentials if the city found it violated the law.
A small group of environmental advocates gathered at Portland City Hall Monday to deliver a letter to Wilson’s office, signed by representatives of eight environmental organizations, saying they reject the process and results of an investigation into Zenith Energy earlier this year.
Advocates who signed and showed up to City Hall April 13 are unhappy with the quality of the Wilson administration’s investigation into Zenith’s franchise agreement. The City Council passed a resolution in March 2025 that directed Wilson to investigate whether the Houston-based fossil fuel company had violated its franchise agreement—a legal arrangement allowing companies to access the city’s rights-of-way for fossil fuel infrastructure, communications equipment, or other utility needs.
The letter was signed by representatives of the Braided River Campaign, CEI Hub Task Force, Portland Harbor Community Coalition, Breach Collective, Tank the Tanks, Willamette Riverkeeper, 350PDX, and Sunrise PDX.
Wilson was not in the office, but Dineen Crowe, a campaign director for the local environmental organization 350PDX, delivered the letter to Aisling Coghlan, Wilson’s chief of staff.
“We all as a climate community, feel pretty frustrated right now with the mayor, and there were things that he said on record during his campaign trail related to climate that have not happened or they’re the opposite,” Crowe said.
Coghlan responded briefly.
“”[The mayor] is a huge climate advocate, and I appreciate the letter,” Coghlan told the advocates.
Wilson’s office did not respond to the Mercury’s request for additional comment.
A report the city released February 19 said Zenith was in compliance with its franchise agreement. The city hired the independent law firm Cable Huston to assist in its investigation in September 2025, after two of the resolution’s co-sponsors raised concerns that the city’s internal investigation was led by the same city staff who were responsible for Zenith’s permitting and franchise enforcement in the first place.
In other words, the city hired Cable Huston to review the city’s review—not to conduct an independent investigation.
District 4 Councilor Mitch Green told the Mercury April 13 that the stakes are high, and he sees the investigation as failing to meet the oversight intent of the resolution. Green co-sponsored the initial resolution calling for an investigation with Councilor Angelita Morillo, who serves in District 3.
“This is about the future of our city, and whether or not we are going to design a city that takes our environmental and climate and frankly, readiness resiliency questions seriously,” Green said.
The city’s findings, backed by Cable Huston’s review of the city’s materials, came despite Zenith illegally constructing and using new piping to transport fossil fuels and renewable fuels on at least 34 occasions over a three-year period without notifying the city or the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) of the changes. The DEQ had initially paused its permitting process and fined Zenith over $370,000 for the infractions in 2024, but negotiated with the company on appeal.
That tipped off the City Council resolution demanding an investigation into potential city violations. Under city law, Zenith is only allowed to transport renewable fuels through any new piping it installs, and transporting fossil fuels would clash with its city agreement.
According to the letter, climate watchdogs felt the investigation appeared tainted by conflicts of interest, was too narrow in scope, omitted relevant information, and did not fully utilize the city’s investigative authority.
“Like the City Councilors who adopted [the resolution], we hoped for a robust investigation that would put years of controversy to rest,” the letter states. “Instead, the lack of a proper inquiry has only created more distrust between the public and the city administration.”
Advocates argue in their letter that the franchise agreement was just one component of the resolution, and the City Council explicitly did not limit the investigation to that single element. They said the investigation failed to address the resolution’s requirements to review conflicting statements and incomplete information provided by top administrative staff during public briefings to city councilors, particularly related to Zenith’s myriad infractions since 2018.
Advocates’ say information highlighting their concerns was not delivered to Cable Huston to review, meaning its investigation was strictly limited to information curated by city staff.
“Despite years of research and information gathering, neither community nor environmental advocates were allowed to share any information with Cable Huston, again shutting our voices out of decision making,” the letter states.
They argue Cable Huston should have been privy to documents that city staff excluded, saying the scope of documents “appears designed to avoid seeking the very information elucidating where Zenith’s conduct is in conflict with its Franchise Agreement obligations.”
The Cable Huston memo finalized and sent to the city attorney’s office in February said the law firm determined that only city staff should draft the substance of the franchise review.
“We did not identify a need to retain any additional experts, and we concluded that the team the City had assembled possessed the expertise necessary to address the City Council’s directives,” the memo said.
Cable Huston did not immediately respond to the Mercury‘s request for comment. Zenith Energy also did not respond.
At the end of its first phase of developing its investigation, Cable Huston recommended the city obtain documents from the DEQ. The memo said the documents Cable Huston already had access to include city files, documents provided by Zenith, and materials provided by the public during various proceedings. It did not ask the public for further information.
In their letter to Wilson, advocates added that Zenith’s other infractions should have been included for a more comprehensive investigation, saying the infractions point to a relevant pattern of “fraud and deceit”—a violation of city code.
Every year since 2018, Zenith has broken its promise that it would not increase the amount of fossil fuels transported through its facility—a violation of the city’s rules regulating crude oil transport and banning new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Zenith also failed to pay franchise fees on time in 2018, defied state orders to practice for an oil spill in 2019, engaged in “flagrant violations” of a state air permit in 2021, and violated city lobbying code in 2022, as determined by the City Auditor’s Office.
By 2025, city officials, including Wilson, facilitated a new Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS)—a local land use credential it needed to obtain an air permit through DEQ. The city is currently defending itself against a lawsuit brought by environmental advocates who argue the city’s process for approval was flawed.
That context was absent from the scope of Cable Huston’s investigation, according to the letter.
Green said he is also disappointed in how the investigation was executed, because it let down the community that has been working to protect its neighborhoods from harm for a long time. He added that he and his colleagues must follow up to ensure accountability.
“If you think that you can pull a fast one on the environmental community, you know, you must be new here, because that’s just not how things work in this town,” Green said. “I know that we’ve had headwinds from inside this building working against accountability and oversight for a long period of time, but there’s a new sheriff in town, and we’re here to work inside this building to advance true accountability for our community.”