Victoria Leistman, Dirty Fuels Organizer
Every day, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) comes closer to completing construction on its proposed 8 million gallon Liquefied “Natural” Gas facility in Tacoma. The facility is being built on Puyallup Tribal Land despite the Tribe’s fierce opposition and without a formal government-to-government consultation; it is both environmentally destructive and an affront to Tribal treaty rights. That’s why we are standing with the Puyallup Tribe as they lead the opposition against this dangerous project.
Here’s what you need to know: this project has never been evaluated for health and safety risks. In the case of an emergency, residents living within three miles of the facility could be in dire circumstances. The NW Detention Center which is located in proximity at the Port of Tacoma has 1,200 residents and no evacuation plan for the people being detained.The economic risks don’t add up either. Ratepayers will pay for 46% of this facility, only to benefit from 2% of what the facility is producing. PSE is willing to sacrifice community safety, ratepayer money, and Puyallup Tribe land for a gas project that we do not need.
This has been a David vs. Goliath story from the beginning but with your help, we can still stop this facility from ever going into operation. PSE still needs to get their air permit application approved by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA).
On March 29th, the PSCAA released its Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the Puget Sound Energy (PSE) liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, which continues to be built without permits in Tacoma, WA on Medicine Creek Treaty territory. Local community groups responded by amplifying the Puyallup Tribe’s call for Governor Inslee and the Washington Department of Ecology to initiate a supplemental review that honors the Tribe’s legal rights to consultation, evaluates the many changes to the project, and fairly weighs the environmental impacts of methane pollution from fracked gas infrastructure.
The FSEIS was disappointing. It downplayed the climate impacts of fracked gas by using old, outdated figures for calculations, and drew an inaccurate conclusion that the gas would be okay if only sourced from British Columbia. It’s time for us to raise our voices again and make clear that this report is unacceptable.
The PSCAA will now make an initial determination on the air permit, accompanied by another comment period and public hearing, likely in late spring. This is our chance to hold their feet to the fire. These are all critical opportunities to impact the air agency’s final determination on the air permit. We can still stop this dangerous project.
Meanwhile, the City of Tacoma still holds some big cards in all this as well. The City has the ability to call for an additional SEIS on the entire project, dealing the project a potentially fatal setback. The Puyallup Tribe is calling for support in pressuring Tacoma to do the right thing for the health of our communities and our environment.
Stand with us against fracked gas and take action right now!
*Tell the Air Agency that their environmental review was awful and to deny the air permit!
*Send a letter to the City of Tacoma demanding that they require an additional SEIS
*Write a letter to the editor to help boost this topic in the press!
In short, this isn’t over yet and we’re not backing down.This spring, keep the momentum moving and join us to stop PSE in their tracks! Activists like you have made it clear from the beginning that we don't need or want this LNG facility in Washington. Take action today--together we can shut down this bad project once and for all!