Joint statement of Governor Bob Ferguson and Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller on west coast oil pipeline

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.”