Pembina Marine Terminals’ $500 million North Portland plan was subjected to public comment Tuesday.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Pembina Marine Terminals’ $500 million North Portland plan was subjected to public comment Tuesday.
According to a report by OregonLive.com, the company answered four hours of citizens’ concerns about a zoning change that would allow the company to use Portland as a cog in the debate about Canadian tar sands being exported to Asia.
The zoning amendment would allow the use of a pipeline to transport propane from onshore storage tanks onto ships at a nearby dock. Code currently doesn’t allow the pipe across a narrow strip of shoreline at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 facility in St. Johns, which is zoned for conservation.
The zoning snag, discovered just as Pembina was announcing the facility in September, has the potential to derail the project, although staff at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability have recommended the commission make the change to accommodate it. They cite economic and social benefits in terms of jobs, personal income and tax revenue; the ability to manage and mitigate public safety and environmental risks to “acceptable levels”; and their determination that the global economic consequences were “inclusive.”
The company was prepared to make concessions to Portland’s conservation-minded citizens, according to the Portland Tribune.
The city of Portland should not be party to sending Canadian fossil fuel exports to Asia, said Bob Sallinger, conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland. “We need to be leaving carbon-based fuels in the ground.”
Pembina, aware its proposal has engendered significant opposition from environmentalists and neighbors, announced a package of sweeteners as the hearing began. The company pledged to improve the shoreline habitat, to buy “green power” to offset its massive electricity purchases, and agreed to hire local union workers.
The Portland Business Journal detailed exactly what the Canadian energy company pledged:
- To give first preference for permanent jobs to North Portland residents. Full-time jobs at the terminal will pay between $70,000 and $120,000 annually with benefits. Pembina said it will use local workforce training resources and will engage small businesses, including minority and women-owned businesses.
- It will use unionized labor to construct the terminal.
- To enhance shoreline habitat at the site.
- To purchase renewable energy to offset power used at the site.
- It will use no subsidies or tax rebates.
