Washington residents call on Gov. Ferguson, Director Sixkiller, and state agencies to oppose Pacific Link Pipeline and supertankers

Friends of the San Juans submits petition urging Washington leaders to use every available tool to protect the Salish Sea

||| FROM LOVEL PRATT for FRIENDS OF THE SAN JUANS |||

Between October 5 and November 4, 2026, 1,240 people, including 1,052 residents of Washington State, signed Friends of the San Juans’ petition calling on Governor Bob Ferguson and Washington Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller to use every available regulatory, diplomatic, technical, and legal avenue to oppose the proposed Pacific Link Pipeline.

The Canadian government recently designated the project, previously called the West Coast Oil Pipeline, as a “project of national interest.” The proposal would transport up to one million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta to a new deepwater export terminal at Roberts Bank, British Columbia, just north of the U.S.–Canada border. The terminal would load Very Large Crude Carriers, commonly known as supertankers, for export. According to an October 2, 2026, joint statement from Governor Ferguson and Director Sixkiller, tankers of the proposed size would be unprecedented in these waters and could carry up to 92 million gallons of oil.

The petition emphasizes that the pipeline is not solely a Canadian issue. Supertankers serving the proposed terminal would travel through or immediately adjacent to Washington waters, where a vessel casualty, major spill, chronic pollution, underwater noise, and other shipping impacts would directly affect Washington State.

Forty-nine years ago, the U.S. prohibited supertankers from operating in Washington waters east of Port Angeles because of their extraordinary risks. The Pacific Link terminal proposes to use supertankers, increasing air and water pollution, underwater noise, and other shipping impacts, and increasing the risk of accidents and oil spills in the shared waters of the Salish Sea.

“Washington residents are sending a clear message: our state must act now, while consequential decisions about this pipeline, export terminal, and the use of supertankers are still being made,” said Eva Schulte Executive Director with Friends of the San Juans. “The risk does not stop at the international border. Washington’s waters, communities, Tribes, fisheries, endangered Southern Resident killer whales, and coastal economy would all be placed in harm’s way by this proposed expansion of tar sands crude oil shipping through the Salish Sea.”

According to the joint statement from Governor Ferguson and Director Sixkiller, the proposal would substantially increase crude oil volumes and tanker traffic through the Salish Sea. Governor Ferguson and Director Sixkiller warned that existing regional oil spill prevention and response resources would be insufficient for an expansion of this scale. They also stated that a major spill would pose an “existential threat” to the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales and the Salish Sea’s ecosystems and Tribal and First Nations communities.

The petition calls on Washington State to actively participate in all Canadian federal, provincial, port, marine-safety, and energy-regulatory proceedings. The Governor’s Office and state agencies should submit coordinated evidence, seek formal participant or intervenor status where available, take legal actions and preserve all legal options, and require thorough analyses of all transboundary risks and impacts.

If the project proceeds despite Washington State’s opposition, the petition calls for project conditions to include enforceable protections for the state, including:

• Washington state-based accident and oil-spill prevention and response resources, including dedicated emergency response towing capacity;
• equipment and trained personnel positioned to protect the state’s waters and shorelines;
• immediate cross-border notification and access to real-time incident information;
• coordinated spill command, exercises, trajectory modeling, and wildlife response;
• mutually identified measures protecting Southern Resident killer whales, salmon, seabirds, and sensitive shorelines;
• rigorous tanker escort, navigation, operating-condition, and emergency-shutdown requirements;
• continuous and publicly accessible air, water, noise, and vessel-traffic monitoring;
• transparent public reporting and independent oversight;
• enforceable funding and financial assurance covering Washington state’s prevention, preparedness, response, restoration, and compensation costs;
• authority to strengthen or suspend operations when monitoring identifies unacceptable risks; and
• publicly identify the actions the Governor’s Office and state agencies will take.

Conditions that require prevention and response resources located only in Canada cannot adequately protect Washington’s shorelines, wildlife, communities, maritime safety, and economies. Washington must have the vessels, equipment, trained personnel, funding, information, and decision-making protocols needed to prevent and respond to an accident in state waters. Those conditions must be enforceable before tanker operations begin, not promised after the fact.

The petition was submitted on November 6^th to Governor Ferguson and Director Sixkiller, urging the Governor to enlist all relevant state agencies.

About Friends of the San Juans

Friends of the San Juans’ mission is to bring people and nature together to protect the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea through education, science, policy, and law. Friends engages in permitting processes to ensure that environmental reviews address project-related vessel traffic risks and impacts. Friends focuses on reducing shipping pollution, protecting Southern Residents, and increasing oil spill prevention and spill response preparedness. To learn more about our work, get involved, or sign up for action alerts, visit sanjuans.org .

Additional information

• Information about Pacific Link
• Joint statement from Governor Ferguson and Director Sixkiller
• Washington state’s supertanker restriction, RCW 88.16.190
• Congress passed Senator Warren Magnuson’s amendment banning supertankers in Washington state waters in the Salish Sea on October 5, 1977