Lawsuit to Protect Levee and Farmland from NEXT Refinery Gains Traction
By Audrey Leonard, Staff Attorney, Columbia Riverkeeper
Our court challenge to NEXT’s refinery is gaining momentum! Columbia Riverkeeper and 1000 Friends of Oregon, represented by Advocates for the West, sued the Army Corps of Engineers for allowing NEXT to use an aging, inadequate levee as a haul route for heavy refinery equipment without proper safety review.
On August 7, 2025, the court denied the Army Corps’ procedural motion to dismiss our case. This means that the judge will now decide the central issue in our case: whether the Army Corps was required to perform a safety review before allowing NEXT to use the aging Port Westward levee. You can read news coverage about the decision here.
We are thrilled that our lawsuit to protect the levee is gaining traction. Now that we’ve cleared this procedural hurdle, this is a very straightforward case. We’re asking the Army Corps to follow its own rules and keep local farmland above water.
Why this matters?
- The NEXT refinery is a threat to the Columbia River and family farms—and it will not produce “renewable” or “sustainable” fuel.
- The Port Westward levee is old and does not meet the Army Corps’ safety standards. NEXT’s plan to use the levee as a haul route for heavy refinery equipment threatens further damage and risk.
- Columbia Riverkeeper’s case to protect the levee, and those behind it, from NEXT has cleared an important procedural hurdle.
Background
In May 2024, Columbia Riverkeeper and 1000 Friends of Oregon filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) for determining that a Rivers and Harbors Act Section 14 permit was not required for NEXT Renewable Fuels’ (NEXT’s) proposed refinery and rail yard. Construction for NEXT’s proposed refinery and rail yard would involve driving heavy equipment along a road atop a levee that protects the Port Westward area from the Columbia River. Degradation of the levee would put farmland, homes, and energy infrastructure at risk of flooding.
Locals and farmers in the area have long raised concerns about the proposed refinery’s impacts on the system of levees and dikes that prevent flooding and provide irrigation. Even NEXT admits that further studies are necessary to determine how much weight the road and levee can safely withstand. Since 1915, levee infrastructure has protected 5,717 acres of farmland. Many of those actively farmed acres sit below the water level of the Columbia River.