Climate change wasn’t on the Seattle Port Commission’s agenda this week—at least, it wasn’t planned to be. But because the Port decided to allow Shell to house its Arctic oil drilling fleet in Seattle, more than 150 people crammed into the meeting room and held the Commissioners’ attention for more than three hours of passionate testimony against the Shell lease.
If the lease is a done deal, as the Port Commission might rather it be, the memo hasn’t gotten out. Public opposition to the deal is only increasing—this week Seattle’s Mayor Ed Murray along with the Seattle City Council joined those who believe the Port overstepped.
Given the state of our climate crisis, it’s well past time that we draw a clear line in the sand. That’s why a nationwide movement has succeeded (so far) in blocking the Keystone XL pipeline, and it’s why we cannot allow Shell to use Seattle as a home port for Arctic drilling. We simply cannot continue to build fossil fuel infrastructure locking in continued growth and the use of global warming causing fuels. We have got to transition now, and that transition has to happen here and everywhere.
I sure wish we were talking about a lease at the Port of Seattle to export wind turbines and solar panel manufactured here in Washington. But, we’re not. We are talking about a decision made by the Port of Seattle with very little public input to lease Terminal 5 in West Seattle to Foss Maritime, who in turn plans to host Shell Oil in its bid to drill for oil in the Arctic.
I thought that perhaps the 17,000 people that attended hearings and the 410,000 people that submitted comments objecting to coal ports and oil terminals seeking to site here in the Northwest would have clued in the Port of Seattle Commissioners to the fact that the public might have an interest in this issue. But, clearly that did not happen. There was virtually no opportunity for the public to engage in this issue at all. That is why Port Commissioners got a three-hour earful at this week’s standing-room-only public meeting.
Meanwhile, in the City of Longview, Port Commissioners took a different tack in a recent decision involving fossil fuel use of a public port. Haven Energy proposed to lease port property to site a propane terminal. Last year just after the request was made, the Port held a meeting to educate the public about the proposal. As the final vote of the three Commissioners neared, two additional public meetings were held, giving local residents adequate opportunity to directly question the company and project advocates. When it came time this week for the Port of Longview to make a decision, the Commissioners voted unanimously to reject the project—in part because of the significant community concern.
Clearly, this is the kind of leadership that we need. It’s the kind of leadership shown this week by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray who, with the help of City Council Members Mike O’Brien and Sally Bagshaw, is calling for an investigation into the legality of the Shell lease agreement. It’s also the kind of leadership the Seattle Port Commissioners ought to be showing now, committed by their own bylaws to “promote accountability, transparency, and public confidence by their actions.”
It cannot be too late for this kind of leadership. We need our Seattle Port Commissioners to act, and to rescind this destructive lease.
A final note: When I told my sixteen-year-old son about this issue, I asked if he knew much about Arctic drilling. He said, “Well, I know it’s going to wreck the planet and we shouldn’t be doing it.” You might say, of course he says that–his mom spends every waking moment working on climate change–but the truth is I don’t think we have ever talked about Arctic drilling. Maybe it was his dad….
