||| FROM WASHINGTON GOVERNOR BOB FERGUSON |||
OLYMPIA — Governor Bob Ferguson and Washington Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller offer the folllowing joint statement regarding the Oct. 1 decision by the Canadian Major Projects Office to list the West Coast Oil Pipeline as a “Project of National Interest”:
“We are disappointed in the decision today by the Government of Canada to list the proposed oil pipeline as a project of national interest. The classification puts the project on a fast track, limiting environmental reviews and the ability to provide input.
“The proposed project would bring a massive expansion in both the volume of crude oil and the number of tankers transiting the Salish Sea. If a project of this scale is going to proceed, it needs to come with a corresponding commitment to also increase our region’s capacity to prevent and respond to a catastrophic spill.
“Washington State has worked for decades to ensure that we are ready to respond to a major oil spill on either side of the border. These existing resources would be insufficient in the face of this scale of expansion.
“This project would bring supertankers to the Salish Sea that have been barred from Washington ports since the 1970s. It would double the volume of Canadian crude oil transiting through Haro Strait and Boundary Pass. Tankers of this size would be unprecedented in these waters. Each of these ships has a capacity of up to 92 million gallons of oil. That’s 260% more oil than the largest tankers currently in these waters. And the capacity of each of those vessels is eight times the volume of oil spilled during the Exxon Valdez spill.
“Such a spill would pose an existential threat to the Southern Resident Killer Whales, to the unique ecosystems of the Salish Sea, and to the Tribal and First Nations communities that depend on these marine resources.
“If this project proceeds, it is critical that the Canadian government make detailed commitments to safeguard our shared marine waters and fill these gaps in our response capabilities.”
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That’s nice; but I hope that the governor’s letter was cc’d to the White House, if only as a symbolic gesture. This is really an issue between national governments, not one that the state can do much of anything about; and, of course, Washington’s line is dead in DC anyway. We should be talking about environmental review (i.e., risk analysis), sensible regulations and limits and cooperative response in what are our shared waters and resources. Instead, both the Canadian and US administrations are aligned, economically if not politically, and intent on keeping the petroleum flowing and making as much revenue as possible from it (and we all want cheap gas, right?). The US continues to import 3.9 million barrels of Canadian crude a day, subject to only a 10% tariff, as opposed to 50% on other Canadian goods. Even if the other Washington were listening, it wouldn’t have much to say.
“Oil and gas account for approximately 26% of Canada’s total exports each year. In 2024, Canadian oil and gas exports were valued at around $188 billion, making them a significant part of the country’s international trade.”
“China is anticipated to become a major market for Canadian oil exports. Recent developments indicate that China has emerged as the largest buyer of Canadian oil shipped through the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline. This shift is part of a broader trend where Asia, particularly China, is expected to account for up to 70% of Canadian crude oil exports in the coming years
. The expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline has facilitated this transition, allowing Canada to diversify its energy exports away from the U.S. market”
Any way you look at it, the following is a real wake up call–
“This project would bring supertankers to the Salish Sea that have been barred from Washington ports since the 1970s. It would double the volume of Canadian crude oil transiting through Haro Strait and Boundary Pass. Tankers of this size would be unprecedented in these waters. Each of these ships has a capacity of up to 92 million gallons of oil. That’s 260% more oil than the largest tankers currently in these waters. And the capacity of each of those vessels is eight times the volume of oil spilled during the Exxon Valdez spill.”