Shell’s Arctic-drilling vessels at Terminal 5: Port Commission to discuss Tuesday; ‘open letter’ to mayor; and other updates

| Port of Seattle | West Seattle news

(UPDATED 11:52 AM: Added ‘open letter’ to mayor)

ORIGINAL REPORT, 5:48 AM: The latest developments in the Terminal 5/Foss/Shell situation:

INTERPRETATION OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED: Today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin will include official publication of the city Department of Planning and Development interpretation saying the Port of Seattle needs a new permit before Shell drilling vessels can come to T-5, announced earlier this week (read the interpretation in our Monday report). The notice offers a two-week period for appeals. Will the Port appeal, or apply for a permit, or … ? We’re checking. (Added 7:12 am: Port spokesperson Peter McGraw tells WSB, “The Commission will be taking the matter up in public session next Tuesday.” Agenda out later today.)

DRILLSHIP STATUS: As noted Monday, the interpretation said the drillship Noble Discoverer is not expected to moor at T-5.

(Photo of Noble Discoverer’s April 2012 Seattle arrival by Ilona Berzups)
But it is due in Everett next week, MyEverettNews.com reports. MEN quotes a Port of Everett spokesperson as saying “the Noble Discoverer is scheduled to make a brief stop in Everett next week to load/unload cargo.” And it’s now been revealed that while the ND was in Hawaii late last month, it had to make repairs to “the device that separates oil from the water in its bilges,” VICE News reported on Wednesday, quoting a US Coast Guard spokesperson. That part of the drillship also was implicated in the troubles that led to millions in fines after it left West Seattle and headed to the Arctic in 2012. VICE quotes a Shell spokesperson as saying this new development is nothing more than “mechanical repairs, which from time to time are required on any equipment.”

THE REST OF THE FLEET: The platform Polar Pioneer is still in Port Angeles; checking MarineTraffic.com while writing this story, Aiviq and Harvey Champion are currently docked at Terminal 5.

MAYOR’S DEFENSE: As we reported via Twitter while covering Mayor Murray’s Beacon Hill event announcing the revised transportation levy, he ended by turning to the T-5/Shell controversy. What he said seemed to be a response to the Foss statement on Monday; Murray contended that the city has been and continues to be an ally to the maritime industry and that this one “disagreement” shouldn’t “obscure” that.

ADDED 11:52 AM – OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR: This letter sent to the mayor takes issue with that:

Mark May 7, 2015 (6:32 am)

Murray doesn’t get it.

Private businesses look for certainty when investing. The fact that our Mayor is attempting to interfere with a private company’s contract with the port based upon his own personal political views seriously undermines the Port’s ability to attract future business.

Why would a new container shipping company come to Seattle if a major risk is that the Mayor would announce at a breakfast that he will try to interfere with their investment and legally binding contract because of his concern about health care for Chinese workers?

Murray has now made the Port’s job even harder for attracting new business. And if you look at all of the abandoned terminals around our Port this could be the final stake through its heart.

Telecommuter May 7, 2015 (9:36 am)

Murray is a hypocrite and pandering to special interests. If he were really against oil & gas companies, he would also immediately take aim at LeFarge and Ash Grove Cement who supply sand proppant for frac operations. He would take aim at the entire port of Seattle (sea and air ports) which exports significant amounts of machinery to Alaska’s and other oil field. The high tech industry in Seattle is also a huge support of oil and gas, especially Adobe. The list is long. In King Country it gets even longer.

What’s happening is consistent with the history of the environmentalist movements – pitting mostly good paying blue collar jobs against special needs. Murray says he want’s sustainable industry in Seattle. Sustainable industry so happens to employ a demographic that supports his teams’s ideology (i.e. educated tech workers who don’t drive and are generally politically liberal). Thereby Murray’s policies are shaping the political landscape to have a sustainable political future for his special interests.

Robert May 8, 2015 (8:48 am)

Mayor murray is leaving the port open for a major law-suit, when you move a large rig across the pacific ocean like this operation the fuel costs are astronomical, if this had come up before the company was commited to puget sound for repairs, they could have gone to san diego where the shipping industry is respected and encouraged. his wishy-washey policy will definately cause the industry to not believe any commitments that seattle makes in the future. a childish move like murray made is not good for business-labor, or the general public the only people that benefited are the liberal whiners that have no idea what it is to need work. the marxist idea that don’t do what we do- do what we say, is getting old. this is becoming the leader of the welfare states motto. seattle doesn’t need protests it needs jobs. more work less welfare

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