(T-5, empty since last summer, in center of photo tweeted in September by Peter West Carey)
9:16 AM: A coalition of environmental groups says it’s making good on its threat to sue the Port of Seattle for leasing part of West Seattle’s Terminal 5 to Foss as a homeport for Shell’s Arctic-oil-drilling fleet. Members of the coalition spoke at last week’s Port Commission meeting – as previewed here – asking the port to cancel the lease. They’re briefing reporters later this morning; the pre-briefing announcement says:
Represented by the national public interest environmental law firm, Earthjustice, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Sierra Club, Washington Environmental Council, and Seattle Audubon Society will announce the filing of a lawsuit against the Port of Seattle. The lawsuit alleges the Port of Seattle violated the State Environmental Policy Act and Shoreline Management Act by leasing Terminal 5 to serve as a homeport for Shell’s Arctic drilling fleet because there was no basis for the Port’s conclusion that a homeport is the same as Terminal 5’s previous use as a container terminal and because use of the terminal as a homeport could impair water quality from damaged vessels and vessel repairs.
Earthjustice attorney Patti Goldman and representatives of the groups bringing the suit will also explain why the lawsuit was a necessary response to the Port of Seattle’s attempt to sign a lease for Terminal 5 with Foss Maritime for home-porting Shell’s Arctic drilling fleet with virtually no public process.
The lawsuit seeks to vacate the lease, freeing the elected Port Commissioners to work with the community to find better options for creating jobs, providing revenue to the Port, and achieving the Port’s goal of being “where a sustainable world is headed,” as the Port’s website asserts.
The lease was signed February 9th and announced by Port CEO Ted Fick in a letter to this coalition two days later; the negotiations were kept secret until news of the potential lease emerged via the agenda published a few days before the January meeting at which commissioners were briefed. More to come.
ADDED 11:11 AM: Here’s the full announcement, as released minutes ago (also, ADDED 1:43 PM, Foss’s reaction and a statement from the port):
A coalition of conservation organizations filed a lawsuit today against the Port of Seattle and the Port Commissioners, challenging the Portās entry into a lease with Foss Maritime to open Terminal 5 to Shellās Arctic drilling fleet without public proceedings or environmental review.
The lawsuit charges that the lease will change the use of Terminal 5 by converting it into a homeport for Shellās Arctic drilling fleet, which will need extensive maintenance and repairs after being battered in the Arctic conditions. The lease would allow Shellās drill ships to be housed at the Port, including the Noble Discoverer which was the subject of 8 felony convictions and over $12 million in fines and community service last December, including for discharging oil-contaminated water in violation of water pollution laws. The lawsuit charges that the Port has violated its long-range plans and its shoreline permit, which designate Terminal 5 as a cargo terminal, not a homeport and that it needed to conduct a public review of the environmental and community impacts of making this change.
Earthjustice filed the challenge in King County Superior Court on behalf of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, The Sierra Club, Washington Environmental Council, and Seattle Audubon Society. The coalition asks the court to vacate the lease because the Port violated the State Environmental Policy Act, its own rules, and the Shoreline Management Act.
āBy making a secret deal to house Shellās Arctic drilling fleet in Seattle, the Port shut out the public and subverted laws that are designed to foster an informed public assessment of controversial proposals like this one,ā said Earthjustice Managing Attorney Patti Goldman. āShellās race to drill in the Arctic has been dirty business and now battered vessels that have leaked oily water are being welcomed into our city.ā
The Port conducted the lease negotiations in secret and only revealed the plans to the public after it was a done deal. It circumvented environmental laws and open debate over the use of Terminal 5 by claiming the use would not change from its use as a container terminal over the past several decades.
“The Port Commission not only broke the law, they violated the public trust,ā said Jesse Piedfort, executive committee chair for Sierra Club ā Seattle. āThis isnāt a run of the mill lease, it has enormous environmental impacts which affect our backyard, Alaska and our world. By subverting the public process and negotiating in secret, the Port ignored requirements for environmental review and deprived the public of the opportunity to debate this lease.”
Citing both the environmental impacts of leaking oil and repairing damaged vessels and lack of public process, the groups asked the Port Commissioners to block the lease via a letter dated January 28, 2015. The letter urged the Port to find a new tenant that creates high-quality, sustainable jobs that reflect the communityās values, further specifying the need for a full vetting and public process. The lawsuit focuses on those values and the need to keep the Port as a leader in sustainability.
āThe Port of Seattle is putting their stated goal of being a ‘Green Gateway’ and an environmental leader at risk,ā said Washington Environmental Council President Becky Kelley. āHosting this fleet with a record of discharging oil-contaminated water, flies in the face of their environmental goals and ours.ā
āProtecting the health of our waterways begins with transparency in significant decisions made by our public officialsā, said Chris Wilke, executive director of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. āUnfortunately the Port missed this mark by a huge margin while ignoring its own stated goals of sustainability. The Commissionās failure to inform the public about this back room deal amounts to a breach of trust, leaving many unanswered questions about pending industrial activities that put our local waters at risk.ā
āWe encourage the Port of Seattle to rescind this lease without delay,ā said Susan North, conservation manager for Seattle Audubon. āMany migratory and breeding bird species that are already in decline call our waters home and are at great risk from oil and other pollutants. We are extremely concerned about the potential for oil and chemical pollution of the Salish Sea due to transit, transport, berthing, and maintenance of weathered, damaged, and contaminated oil industry vessels and equipment in our waters.ā
Related background: Shell Oil intends to begin exploration, upon approval of a lease sale and drilling plans, as early as this Spring. According to the Obama Administrationās final supplemental environmental impact statement on the Chukchi Sea in Alaska, released February 12, 2015, there is a 75 percent chance of one or more major oil spills if the Chukchi Sea is developed, and there is no way to clean up or contain such spills. A decision on whether the Administration will end or affirm the Chukchi Sea oil leases for Alaska is expected in late March.
Shellās disastrous 2012 Arctic Ocean drilling and transport operations demonstrate that even technically advanced and well-resourced companies are no match for Arctic conditions. The company was investigated and fined after multiple missteps and close calls during its efforts to drill in the Arctic Ocean in 2012. And the Department of Interior conducted a review of Shellās Arctic drilling operations in which it severely criticized Shell for failing to maintain effective oversight of its contractors. In December 2014, one such contractor, Noble Drilling (US) LLC, pleaded guilty to eight felony charges and paid over $12 million in fines and community service. Noble operates the Noble Discoverer, one of the two drill ships in Shellās Arctic fleet. The other drill ship, the Polar Pioneer, is operated by Transocean, which paid more than $1.4 billion in criminal and civil fines for its role in the 2010 Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Both drill ships could come to the Port of Seattle under the terms of the lease with Foss Maritime Company.
We’ll add any reaction we get in the hours ahead.
ADDED 1:43 PM: Three points from Foss Maritime spokesperson Paul Queary:
Ā·Terminal 5 is permitted to tie up ships while they are being loaded and unloaded. Those are the services Foss will provide to the Arctic exploration fleet.
Ā· In terms of local impact, our use of Terminal 5 should have far less impact than the prior use, when the terminal was a busy container port, with ships constantly loading and unloading and a steady stream of trucks coming to and from the terminal.
Ā·Terminal 5 is not a shipyard. Should any of the vessels need significant repairs, that work would be done elsewhere at a suitable facility.
We’ve also just received a statement from the port, via spokesperson Perry Cooper:
Through careful review the Port of Seattle believes it has complied with all necessary environmental requirements with regard to Foss Maritime’s interim use of Terminal 5. We are committed to fully comply with any/all requirements and regulations.
In addition, we have received a shoreline substantial development permit exemption from the City of Seattle for this use.
The port has not received the details of any lawsuit at this time. We would review any such documents and work constructively with our stakeholders.
ADDED: Here’s the court document.
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