Local Kayaktivists Confront Portland City Commissioners on Willamette
Portlanders continue to call on Commissioner Rubio and City Council to cancel Zenith’s permissions and involve the public in decision making about the future of fossil fuels in the city.
For Immediate Release
May 16, 2023
Press Contacts
Kelsey Baker, 415-599-6672, kelsey@mosquitfleet.us
Josie Moberg, 503-277-3300, josie@breachcollective.org
Portland, Ore. - This afternoon more than a dozen Portland residents in kayaks confronted Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and City Council members on the Willamette River with a 30 foot-long banner that read: “Stop Zenith”. The elected officials were aboard the Crystal Dolphin on a tour of the Willamette as part of a discussion about unequal access to the river. The kayaking community members’ action is intended to draw attention to the hypocrisy of City leaders who express concern for river access yet enable the continued use and expansion of dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure, including oil trains, along the banks of the Willamette.
Josie Moberg, Climate Justice Movement Legal Fellow with Breach Collective, said:
“It’s ironic for Portland City Council to engage in a conversation about river access right after permitting Zenith Energy to continue bringing dangerous oil trains to the waterfront and filling aging storage tanks with fossil fuels that will leak into the river and explode during an earthquake. If the Commissioners want to see a healthy and publicly accessible river, then the first step is to stop the industrial polluters making it hazardous in the first place. Every day that our City Council refuses to rescind Zenith’s permit, they are choosing profit over the community’s health and safety, it’s as simple as that.”
Zenith Energy is a Houston-based oil company that operates a terminal in NW Portland in the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub. In 2017, Zenith quietly started receiving tar sands and crude oil on mile-long trains from Canada and North Dakota. Most, if not all, of the product Zenith handles is destined for overseas markets—the energy is not even used here in Oregon. Zenith’s facilities are located within the Cascadia earthquake subduction zone, meaning the unstable soils are subject to liquefaction and lateral spreading in an earthquake. In 2021, City Council finally listened to the people of Portland and denied a key land use permit for Zenith Energy, the Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS). Commissioner Ryan specifically identified a lack of Tribal outreach as one rationale for the LUCS denial.
But in October of 2022, behind closed doors, the City quietly approved Zenith’s amended request for a LUCS, paving the way for Zenith to continue transporting and storing dangerous and flammable fuels, including crude oil, for at least five more years. The City turned its back on 46 neighborhood associations, Multnomah County, 20 state legislators, 17 environmental and community organizations, and thousands of Portland residents who all expressed concern over Zenith Energy and originally urged the City to deny this permit. The October 2022 decision was made without any Tribal engagement or consultation input on the process.
In November of 2022, 20 local groups submitted a letter to the City noting that under state administrative rules, local governments may withdraw or modify LUCS any time prior to the issuance of the state permit. Portland City Council has the power to rescind the LUCS permit today. According to reporting in The Oregonian, Zenith continues to increase its crude oil throughput despite repeated promises to phase it out.
Simone Crowe, one of the kayakers, a St. John’s resident, and member of Mosquito Fleet, a community group that defends waterways from fossil fuel interests, said:
“It’s clear that the Portland City Council has no interest in public engagement, and instead is happy to make back-room deals with international fossil fuel companies, putting our communities at risk—especially low-income, Black & Brown communities, and actively polluting our water and our air. The role of an elected official is to engage and listen to their constituents, but they have not been fulfilling this duty. Make no mistake that voters will remember the decisions made by our elected officials. Fortunately, City Councilors still have the power to do the right thing.”
The proximity of Zenith’s facilities to the Willamette and Columbia Rivers and several Portland neighborhoods make the risk of accident, spill, or major failures due to a seismic event or train derailment extremely dangerous. Due to the racist history of the City of Portland’s planning and zoning, neighborhoods with a higher density of BIPOC and low-income residents are on the frontlines of these potential disasters. These rivers are home to threatened and endangered species including the spring chinook and winter steelhead, and are culturally significant to local Native American tribes including the Cowlitz, Clackamas, and Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde.
Kelsey Baker, Project Director with the Mosquito Fleet said:
“Zenith Energy’s oil trains are a threat to public safety, environmental justice, and racial and economic justice in Portland. We envision a fossil-free Rose City, where the Willamette and Columbia rivers and our communities are free from harmful polluting fossil fuel infrastructure. If Portland truly wants to lead on climate justice, then the Portland City Council can start by rescinding the LUCS for Zenith.”
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