Environmental groups are concerned about Portland’s push to replace petroleum diesel with renewable fuels | Daily News Byte

Portland leaders announced an environmental milestone Wednesday when the city became the first in the nation to pledge to phase out the sale of petroleum diesel.

But the measure — which would take effect in 2024 and require petroleum diesel sold in Portland to be blended with renewable fuels in ever-increasing increments until 99 percent is phased out in 2030 — has drawn unlikely critics.

Environmental groups are concerned that the city’s aggressive action to reduce carbon emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks doesn’t take into account that producing, storing and transporting renewable fuels comes with the same risks inherent in moving and storing conventional diesel. The list of possible hazards includes catastrophic spills, fires, water and air pollution, noise and smells. The potential for a major earthquake in Oregon also presents uncertainty.

The measure, passed unanimously by the Portland City Council, is the first major step toward reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent under the recently adopted climate emergency plan. It aims to improve Portland’s air quality, particularly in the lower-income neighborhoods most affected by cancer-causing diesel fumes.

“It’s a laudable goal to reduce the pollution that comes from diesel, and I don’t want to diminish what the city is trying to accomplish here,” said Dan Serres, conservation director of Columbia Riverkeeper, an environmental group focused on protecting the Columbia. A river. “But Portland must ensure that this policy does not support poorly located, poorly designed biofuel facilities.”

Columbia Riverkeeper is one of a half-dozen environmental organizations that submitted a letter to the Portland City Council expressing concerns about the biofuel ordinance.

Breach Collective, 350PDKS, Columbia Riverkeeper, Northwest Environmental Defense Center and Portland Audubon wrote that the city lacks safeguards and oversight of existing fossil fuel corporations and other companies racing to build new biofuel facilities or convert existing fossil fuel infrastructure.

“We advocated for additional measures to ensure community oversight of large polluters and protect communities living near large liquid fuel tanks, but these recommendations were ignored by city staff and the City Council,” said Nick Caleb, attorney for the Breach Collective, and A climate justice advocacy organization based in Eugene.

The City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, which prepared the ordinance, declined to comment Thursday on the specific environmental impacts of biofuel production, storage and transportation. Spokeswoman Magan Reed said the city is proud of its work to limit Portland’s reliance on fossil fuels such as diesel.

“We understand that politics creates ripple effects in systems,” Reid wrote via email. “We also understand that while we are striving for a future without reliance on traditional fossil fuels, it is unrealistic to assume that a switch can be flipped to make this happen overnight.”

The potential for accidents and pollution from biofuel facilities and transportation, whether in Portland or outside the city, is significant, environmentalists say.

“Biofuels are still fuels that perpetuate risks to the already contaminated Willamette River,” said Cassie Cohen, executive director of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition.

Trains carrying biofuels could spill the fuel into the Willamette or Columbia rivers, Cohen said, polluting the environment and putting the local community at risk. One such accident occurred in 2016 when a train carrying several million gallons of crude oil derailed and caught fire near the town of Mosier, spilling oil into the Columbia.

Cohen’s grassroots coalition championed the cleanup of the Portland Harbor Superfund site—an 11-mile industrial stretch of the Willamette River—by representing communities disproportionately affected. But the site could be further contaminated by Zenith Energy, the fossil fuel corporation based at the site that recently received a controversial stamp of approval from the city for five more years of oil storage and transfer after promising to transform into a “renewable fuels” company.

The seismic risk of biofuel facilities is another concern, Cohen said, especially in light of Portland working to reduce that risk in its hub of critical energy infrastructure where more than 90% of all Oregon’s liquid fuel — gas and diesel — is stored. According to a recent study, a spill equivalent in size to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill could occur in the Portland hub from aging reservoirs sitting on unstable ground if a major earthquake occurs. Biofuel stored in some of those tanks could be part of that risk.

This summer, the Portland City Council approved an ordinance that would limit the size and use of fossil fuel terminals in Portland as a way to reduce earthquake risk — but it’s unclear whether it would also limit biofuels at these terminals.

And while the city of Portland hopes expanded access to biofuels will keep biodiesel and renewable diesel prices low for residents and transportation companies under the new ordinance, environmental groups say the city should look into where the fuels come from.

They point to a controversial $2 billion renewable diesel refinery proposed by Houston-based NEXT Renewables on the Columbia River near Clatskanie. Conservation groups last week asked Oregon regulators to withdraw state authorization for the project after a state board of appeals overturned a permit for the 400-car train station.

Serres of the Columbia Riverkeeper said the proposed refinery would be built on unstable ground behind levees that sit next to high-value farmland and salmon habitat, in the middle of a sensitive estuary. The risk of spills from the refinery or its train station – from accidents or caused by a major earthquake – would cause an environmental disaster, Serres said. The facility could also contaminate water that local farmers rely on.

In addition, the proposed refinery would use large amounts of fracked gas, a fossil fuel, and produce significant greenhouse gas emissions. NEXT Renewables could also use much more carbon-intensive biofuel feedstocks — something Portland wants to avoid as part of its biofuel ordinance.

“It’s a wake-up call for Portland,” Serres said. “We hope that the city, in implementing this ordinance, will carefully monitor how some of these fuels are produced and whether their production, storage and transportation are in fact consistent with the city’s goals.”

– Gosia Wozniacka; gvozniacka@oregonian.com; @gosiavozniacka

Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today at OregonLive.com/subscribe/