Where Tar Sands Meet the Salish Sea

By Chom Greacen

What do you think about the tar sands industry exporting its crude to the world through the Salish Sea instead of Keystone XL pipeline?

A sticky tar-like form of crude oil mixed with sand and clay, tar sands of Alberta, Canada – also called oil sands – are one of the largest remaining deposits of oil in the world. The combined carbon in tar sands is more than all the carbon emitted from oil use in the world history thus far.

Canadian and U.S. oil pipelines: existing and proposed. The planned expansion from Edmonton to Vancouver (lower dotted blue line) is primarily to export crude oil from tar sands to Asia via Salish Sea. Source: Canadia Association of Petroleum Producers. 

Extracting the tar sands by strip mining, solvents, and steam has created the biggest and “most destructive” project in the world, according to Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace.

Despite the high energy and environmental costs to extract, tar sands are rising in prominence as a major source of oil. The U.S. main and growing source of oil imports is from Canada, surpassing the Middle East and Mexico[1]. And more than half of the 

Canadian oil production in 2010 is from tar sands. Already very large, the tar sands crude production is expected to grow 150% by 2025[2].

According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Canadian oil industry is in an “oversupply” situation and looking for an “outlet”[3]. President Obama halted (at least for now) the Keystone XL pipeline project to export tar sands oil through the Gulf. Now our Salish Sea and the Strait of Juan de Fuca are seen by the tar sand industry as an attractive gateway to export this excess oil to Asia.

In fact, it’s already been happening. The existing “Trans-Mountain” oil pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta to Vancouver, BC and with a spur pipeline to Anacortes provides the only access for Canadian oil to reach the West Coast. In 2007, over 3.4 million barrels of crude oil were shipped to China from Vancouver[4].

And that’s just the beginning.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan (KM), one of North America’s largest oil pipeline companies, is planning for a major increase in the quantities of crude oil shipped through its Trans-Mountain pipeline and Westridge dock east of Vancouver.

Already, oil tanker traffic has tripled between 2005 and 2010, and is planned to triple again by 2016[5]. Pipeline expansion will increase crude oil deliveries from 300,000 to 850,000 barrels per day by 2017. KM announced last month it planned to double the capacity by January next year, hoping to beat other competitors to get oil to the coast[6]. About 450,000 bpd would be exported while the remaining are for BC, Washington refineries and some shippers.

KM also plans to dredge the Burrard Inlet allowing for larger tankers (160,000 deadweight-ton "Suezmax") to reach the terminal.[7]

These massive oil tankers will skirt the west side of San Juan Islands on their way out to the Pacific. Though the ships will likely stay within the Canadian border, devastating impacts from a spill accident will not.

Unlike the case of Keystone XL, we do not have a direct say in this. Well, not yet anyway, unless we act.

Both the Washington and BC governments and citizens must be involved in the dialogue of whether KM should be permitted to expand the pipeline and whether increased traffic of tankers carrying toxic crude should be allowed in our shared waters.

KM has yet to file an application with the Canadian National Energy Board to expand the pipeline. There is still a window of opportunity to make our voice heard. Write Governor Christine Gregoire. Talk to your neighbors. Mobilize. Drive less.   

Hopefully, tar sands crude will not meet the Salish Sea, not directly or indirectly. Nor will the coal trains.

This article is the first in a series about tar sands and the SJ community.

[1] ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

[2] CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCERS, Crude Oil: Forecast, Markets & Pipelines, June 2011.

[3] CAPP, ibid.

[4] Statement by Chris Badger, chief operating officer of Port Metro Vancouver http://www.notanks.dreamhosters.com/misinformation-given-to-vancouver-city-council/#more-45

[5] http://wikimapia.org/1698796/Kinder-Morgan-Westridge-Marine-Terminal

[6] http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-12/kinder-morgan-increases-planned-trans-mountain-expansion

[7] http://wikimapia.org/1698796/Kinder-Morgan-Westridge-Marine-Terminal

Lopez Island and Sustainability Survey

We'd love to have as many people on Lopez as we can get to fill out the survey about water, energy and food consumption on the island, put out by a group of graduate students from Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) who are writing an exciting report about Lopez island and its possible futures. See the students' message below.

Paper copies of the survey will also be available at the Lopez Library. We'll also have a drop box there for you to return the completed survey.

The deadline for getting back the responses is May 1. To go to the survey, click here (http://tinyurl.com/d3ksvcf ). Thank you so much for your time and participation.

To learn more about the class "Islands and Sustainability" and what it has generated so far (lots of great ideas were generated during the March 22 Lopez Sustainability Collaborative Fest!), please read the previous postings on this blog or visit:

http://blogs.miis.edu/resilientcommunities/

---------Message from the MIIS students--------------

Hello, and thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this survey. We are a group of 11 graduate students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) who, along with Lopez residents Chris and Chom Greacen, are studying energy and resource consumption on Lopez Island, and exploring options for Lopez Island to achieve greater energy and resource independence and sustainability by 2025. Your answers will improve our understanding of energy and resource consumption and other issues of concern to Lopez Island residents.

Please click on the link below to go to the online survey or go to: http://tinyurl.com/d3ksvcf

"Island and Sustainability" class survey

The survey is designed for households, just like the U.S. Census. Please, only one survey response per household.

Your individual responses will be confidential. Your name and contact information will not be recorded unless you choose to do so. The link above will also provide more information on the class project, or if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Chris and Chom, who are leading the research project. They can be reached by email at: chrisgreacen@gmail.com and chomsgreacen@gmail.com

Thank you again for your time and thoughtful responses to our survey.

Sincerely,
The MIIS graduate student research team.

Ideas generated from the Lopez Sustainability Collaborative Fest

There were some great ideas generated by about 100 participants that gathered at the Lopez Sustainability Collaborative Potluck Fest. The event started off with a slideshow, followed by Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) students summarizing some of the key findings from their visit to Lopez.

Then the participants at each round table made made "Rich Pictures" drawings of what they would like to see in Lopez in year 2025. Afterwards we brain-stormed on ideas and solutions for change and discussed within the group to arrange them on a graph plot with "Practicality" on the X-axis and "Desirability" on the Y-axis. We then picked the top three ideas to share with everyone in the room.

Below are photos of the "Rich Pictures", ideas/solutions, and top 3 ideas from each group.

Top 3 ideas from each group:

'Thinking like an island: Planning for sustainability on Lopez'

By Chris and Chom Greacen

(Photos by Steve Horn)

An island-wide trail network. Earth academy. More clustered communities. Locally defined building codes. More crop and animal farming. More local food production. Local clean energy production. Rainwater catchment. An island free of genetically modified organisms.

These were some ideas that emerged from the Lopez Sustainability Collaborative Potluck and Pizza Fest, Thursday, March 22 at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. The group of around a hundred Lopezians gathered to share food and discussion in an interactive process facilitated by Clive Prout. The group considered some big questions: “What will Lopez be like in the year 2025? What changes would we want to see – in transportation, in electricity and heating for our homes and businesses, in agriculture and food, in our island’s water, and how we manage waste?”

The event marked the culmination of four days of interviews and field research by 11 graduate students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies who visited Lopez as part of a semester-long class called “Thinking like an Island: Planning for sustainability on Lopez Island.” We have been teaching this class from Lopez via video-conference since February this year, with help from Faith Van De Putte who led a contingent of students while on the island.

The student’s final class project is a paper exploring one or more scenarios of enhanced sustainability and resilience, as well as a grant proposal for exploring next steps. Research work comprises gathering baseline data, understanding Lopezians’ visions for the future, and articulating next steps.

The students are interested in Lopez Island specifically because islands are recognized as crucibles of sustainable development. Globally, we are facing pressing scarcity of natural resources, including water, soil, and fossil fuels. Here on the island, the higher cost compared to the mainland prices for fuel, imported food, and just about everything else further raises the relative value of producing essentials locally and sustainably. The close-knit community and trust we share on Lopez also enables development of innovation in housing, agriculture, and energy and food that are inspirations for America and beyond.

Over the course of their four-day visit to the island, the students met with over 50 individuals and groups to understand current resource flows and Lopezians’ visions and concerns for the future. Visits included half a dozen Lopez farms, Orcas Power and Light Co-op power cable landing, the Sewer District, grocery stores, the Lopez School, the Transfer Station, and Lopez Sand and Gravel.

These visits turned up some interesting findings:

• school buses travel 176 miles on Lopez each school day;

• electricity usage in the average home at Common Ground, a sustainable net zero energy project, is about 400 kWh per month – about 40 percent of the average home on Lopez;

• essentially all electricity in San Juan County comes through two 6-inch cables that land on Lopez;

• about 700 dump truck loads of branches and roots are open-burned at the pit at Lopez Sand and Gravel every year;

• Lopez has 6,000 acres of wooded land about three acres per person, enough to potentially meet all space and heating needs on the island if properly managed;

• due to lack of composting facilities, human and food waste biosolids from the sewer district are trucked to the mainland two to four times a month for incineration;

• during the summer over 500,000 gallons of treated water per month suitable for irrigation of all but root crops from the Fisherman Bay Sewer District are released into the ocean.

The students’ project will weave these – and many other baseline facts – into an analysis of current consumption patterns and an investigation into opportunities for more resiliency and sustainability.

If you are interested in this project or seeing some photos and slideshow, visit the graduate students’ blog at blogs.miis.edu/resilientcommunities/, which chronicles the work of the students in developing the class project and will include opportunities in future weeks to comment on their emerging class project.

The site also contains a link to an online survey less than 10 minutes with important questions to fill information gaps about our reliance on imported food, petroleum and more. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

Slideshow: Lopez sustainability potluck/pizza fest

Slides shown during the Lopez Island Sustainability Collaborative Potluck/Pizza Fest, March 22, 2012. The slides are an output from the "Islands and Sustainability" class of Monterey Institute of International Studies, providing snapshots of the students’ visits and meetings with different community members and places around the islands as well as presenting some selected findings from that week.

Lopez sustainability potluck pizza fest slide show

For more info on the class and class project focusing on Lopez Island, go to: http://blogs.miis.edu/resilientcommunities/

Graduates seek to find out how Lopez can be more sustainable

by Chom and Chris Greacen

What resources are required to sustain the economy and residents of Lopez Island and what would the future of Lopez look like if we were to continue “the business as usual” vs. to become more sustainable? These are the questions that a group of eleven graduate students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California is seeking to help our community find answers to.

A few Islands around the world have been in the forefront of humanity’s push for sustainability and lower resource consumption.  Islands offer unique opportunities as “petri dishes” for global resource sustainability because boundaries are particularly easy to draw (they’re surrounded by water, after all) and because energy and other resources are typically higher in cost than on the mainland, increasing the relative attractiveness of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other home-grown options. While the Danish island Samso provides an amazing precedent on the energy front –  from heavy dependence on imported coal electricty to 100% local renewable energy – there are as yet no populated islands in the USA that have achieved a zero-net energy goal. As Samso discovered, the switch to sustainability created a huge boon to the local economy, as the island is now a mecca for tourists interested in the environment. (We don’t mean to imply that Samso should be model for Lopez, but this example does illustrate some of the potential for sustainability working hand-in-hand with a thriving local economy).

The graduate students, taking a class taught by Lopez residents Chris and Chom Greacen, are working together on a hands-on class project focusing on Lopez Island. They will document baseline energy and resource consumption, and explore plausible scenarios for the future. The class has been meeting since early February with classes convened via internet video. Students are split into three groups, with the first focusing on electricity & heating, the second group on transportation, and the third on agriculture, food, water and waste. Their final report, to be completed in June, will be posted online on the Islands Energy Coalition website (http://islandsenergy.wordpress.com/).

The students will be on Lopez from 17 to 22 March gathering data, learning from Lopezians, and discussing initial findings. The class trip will culminate in a “Lopez Sustainability Collaborative and Potluck/pizza Fest”  event at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts on Thursday 22 March from 5:30pm to 8pm.

The event will be family-friendly and interactive with multiple media and opportunities for all to participate in different ways. All are welcome. - those interested in or curious about our island’s future (or specific issues such as transportation, energy, food/agriculture, waste and materials) -- those who simply enjoy good food and good company.

Please bring a dish to share and your own table settings. We will provide Donna Hasbrouck’s famous cob-oven pizza.

Check out the evolving blog by the students: http://blogs.miis.edu/resilientcommunities/ or contact Chom or Chris (468-3189) for further information.

Time is ticking on Cherry Point coal export terminal

By Sophie Williams

The Salish Sea may soon become home to the largest coal export terminal in North America. Tucked in the busy Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve between two oil refineries and an aluminum smelter, the Gateway Pacific Terminal will export 54 million tons of coal and 6 million tons of other dry bulk materials annually.

To build the Gateway Pacific Terminal, the Seattle-based company SSA Marine needs development permits from the Whatcom County Council, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. Before it can be permitted, the project must undergo a full environmental review, led by Whatcom County and the Washington State Department of Ecology, to provide the public and the permitting agencies with a clear understanding of its environmental, health and economic consequences. 

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a study of the projects impacts and the “reasonable alternatives” that could minimize its adverse effects. Reasonable alternatives could range from wetland mitigation to a recommendation of ‘no action.’ In this case, it’s worth keeping in mind that a much smaller export terminal was approved by Whatcom County in 1997, so ‘no action’ still allows SSA Marine to build at Cherry Point, albeit at only 15% of the cargo volume and with less than a third of the shipping traffic.

The first step of the EIS process is to determine the scope of the study. Scoping, which will begin for the Gateway Pacific Terminal in June of 2012, is a chance for the public, tribes, citizen groups, local government, and state and federal agencies to advocate for the impacts and geographic areas they want to be included. The State Environmental Policy Act requires that the EIS team consider environmental impacts from the source of material (the coal strip mines of the Powder River Basin) to its destination (Asia’s coal burning power plants).

Though the communities around Cherry Point may bear the brunt of the terminal’s environmental impacts, the San Juans will also feel its effects. Millions of pounds of coal dust will be lost from the terminal to the marine environment and the surrounding wetland every year. The 487 bulk carries visiting the terminal annually, among the largest in the world and many carrying upwards of 10,000 tons of bunker fuel oil, will add further pollution. Both bunker fuel and the hydrocarbons in coal dust are lethal to the eggs and larvae of many fish, including the herring that spawn at Cherry Point. Large ships also often carry invasive aquatic species in their ballast water, which could wreak further havoc on the marine ecosystem.

To make the terminal’s impacts on the San Juans part of the decision making process, our waters and waterways must be within the scope of the EIS. Take a hard look at the Gateway Pacific Terminal project proposal. If you have concerns, the EIS scoping is your chance to make your voice, and the voice of the islands, heard.

What can the Salish Sea gain from the Gateway Pacific Terminal, and what does it have to lose?

To be notified of actions by Whatcom County Planning and Development Services regarding Gateway Pacific Terminal, send an e-mail to pds@co.whatcom.wa.us with “GPT Subscriber List” in the subject line.

There is a pre-scoping meeting to explain the scoping process on March 20, 6-8pm, in the Bellingham High School theater, 2020 Cornwall Ave.

Coal cargo terminal at Cherry Point raises concern

(From Islands Weekly, http://www.islandsweekly.com/news/138783389.html)
By Phillip Holder


The San Juan Islands face a significant increase in large cargo ship traffic under a proposal to build the largest yet coal terminal in North America at Cherry Point, near Ferndale. Annually, ships measuring up to three football fields in length will make over 950 passages (nearly three per day) transporting tens of millions of tons of Wyoming coal to China.

Photo/ Paul K. Anderson

A coal train passes along the Bellingham waterfront.

SSA Marine/Carrix (owned 49 percent by Goldman Sachs), Peabody Coal, and BNSF railroad want to move 48 millions tons of coal annually, from Wyoming's Powder River Basin strip mines on publicly owned lands, to a 350 acre coal terminal to be built northwest of Bellingham. Carried by up to 18 uncovered trains a day, each up to 1.6 miles long, the coal would be piled at Cherry Point. To prevent spontaneous combustion, the coal will have to be turned over regularly with huge front-end loaders – creating significant dust. From the coal terminal, the coal will be loaded on Capesize — too big for Panama Canal passage — and Panamax ships, and transported  through the Salish Sea for burning by power plants in Asia. The ships would return empty of cargo, each carrying up to 17 million gallons of Asian ballast water, to be released before coal reloading at Cherry Point.
Proponents tout that jobs will be created at Cherry Point, and say that the proposal will help the trade balance between the U.S and China.  But some on the islands and the mainland wonder whether the overall costs of this scheme actually exceed the benefits, and point to several potential impacts on communities, businesses, and the Salish Sea ecosystem.
“In the San Juan islands, 95 percent of the herring that is available to be eaten comes from the shallows around Cherry Point,” said Russell Barsh, director of Kwiaht, the Lopez-based Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea. “Cherry Point is the last remaining spawning area that hasn't been severely impacted by people, and a coal terminal there would have a huge negative impact. Herring is the basis for marine life in the central Salish sea, and we don't have enough as it is to support seals, dolphins, salmon, and sea birds.”
Barsh also raises concerns about increased shipping traffic,
“There's too many close passes and close misses,” he said. “With so many of these huge ships navigating our waters, it's only a matter of time before there's a major accident, and the consequences to sea life would be extremely high.”
Other potential problems include:
-loss of tourism, customers, business revenues, and jobs, and damage to the islands' quality of life
-delays of ferry and private marine transportation;  safety hazards to small fishing, commuter, recreational, and tour boats;
- spillage of coal, oil and/or fuel from vessel mishaps
- traffic delays at “at-grade” rail crossings on mainland traffic routes connecting to marine transportation to the islands
- substantial taxpayer revenues required to mitigate these impacts.
SSA Marine is required by federal and state law and Whatcom County regulations to obtain several permits from federal, state, and local government agencies. The permitting process will include preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement under state and federal laws to address the impacts of the project. The initial step in preparing an EIS is called "scoping." During the scoping phase, members of the public can raise issues they believe need to be studied. The scoping period has not yet been announced but is expected sometime this spring.
"The whole situation is very interesting to me. Enduring impacts from natural resource exports to other countries is perhaps an unfamiliar phenomenon for the U.S. but it is very commonplace in developing countries,” said Chom Greacon, a member of the Islands Energy Coalition and an international energy consultant.  “A difference here is that much of China's hunger for coal (75 percent of energy demand is from the industrial sector) is driven by  exports of consumers goods to countries around the world, including the US. So in a way, consumption in the U.S. is partially responsible for the demand for coal extraction and export. It's certainly crucial to consider the impacts of the coal train but also important to connect the issue to a more personal level."
Lopez residents can hear details and ask questions at the “Ships, Spills and Sea-Level Rise - Coal Hard Truth” forum, moderated by Matt Krogh, North Sound Baykeeper with RESources for Sustainable Communities on Tuesday, Feb.7, 6 - 8 p.m., Lopez Center for Community and the Arts.

On Thurs. Feb. 9, a similar forum will be conducted on San Juan, Feb. 9, Friday Harbor High School Commons, 6 p.m.

(Chris Greacon and Doug Poole of the Islands Energy Coalitions contributed to this article.)

Leave the Car at Home……Catch a LIFT!

By Scott Finley

It was a lively discussion that ensued following the first in the Locavore’s film series in November. Inspired by the movie “The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil,” the group brainstormed ideas for becoming a more sustainable and energy efficient island and reducing our carbon footprint.

  Personal carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions you contribute to the environment. Your carbon footprint may be a size EEE Sasquatch, or if you have followed some of the advice given previously in this column, you may have reduced it to a size 3 ballet slipper. You can reduce your footprint by insulating your house, growing and eating local organic food as well as changing your transportation habits.

Transportation makes up more than one-quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The average American household burns over 1,000 gallons of gasoline and emits 21,000 pounds of CO2 annually from its 1.85 vehicles, and spends nearly a fifth of its income doing so. “Living Well, Living Green,” the useful booklet produced by Transition Fidalgo and Friends, lists several ways to reduce the amount of driving we do: Combine errands in one trip, keep your car tuned and tires inflated, and leave the car at home and hop on a bike, walk or carpool.

The after-film discussion group pounced on the idea of reducing emissions by ride sharing. A culture of hitchhiking has been in place on the islands for years, and it could be expanded at little or no cost. Most of us traveling from one point on the island to another do not mind pulling over to pick up a passenger, nor do we mind riding in another’s car.

Ron Metcalf has recently started “hitching” rides, following up on a New Years resolution, and has found it efficient and convenient. He usually gets picked up by the first car passing by, and has discovered an additional benefit.  Says Ron, “the best part of doing this is that I get to spend time with those I already know and meet those I don't.”

The discussion group formed an impromptu committee calling itself Lopez Island Free Transit, or LIFT, committed to expanding island transportation options. The group’s first strategy, dubbed “Thumbs Up!” is to expand and facilitate our existing ride share system. The decal (shown above) with the thumb logo can be affixed to your car window, indicating your participation in the program. The plan also calls for larger logos to be displayed in safe areas, or “thumb stops,” at key transportation hubs, like the Village, Hummel Lake, school, ferry terminal and airport, so those needing a ride will have a predictable place to get picked up.

You will be able to pick up a decal in a few weeks – it will be announced in the Islands Weekly. Look for fellow travelers at Thumb Stops. And next time you leave the house to run an errand or catch the ferry, leave the car at home. Save some fuel, reduce emissions. Go Thumbs Up and catch a LIFT!