NEXT DEIS

Take Action: Tell the Army Corps to Say No to NEXT

NEXT proposes building a massive refinery that uses large quantities of methane gas and unsustainable feedstocks arriving by train, ships, or barges. NEXT would refine, store, and transload toxic, flammable fuel—including huge quantities of jet fuel—in the heart of the Columbia River estuary’s sensitive salmon habitat.

The communities standing up to the project have been overlooked for years by public agencies eager to swallow NEXT’s greenwashing and promises of economic development. This includes the Port of Columbia County, the Columbia County Commission, Oregon DEQ, and Governor Kotek. 

The problem is obvious: NEXT would sacrifice wetlands, cultural resources, and water quality in an area with significant fish habitat. Farmers maintain levees that protect the area from floods, yet NEXT would trample over these structures and local drainages with heavy equipment and over 600,000 cubic yards of fill (50,000 heavy haul trucks). No way. It’s not going to work.

Dear U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:

I urge you to deny NEXT’s application for a Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands permit and publish a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that looks past NEXT’s greenwashing to describe in detail the proposal’s many serious harms.

NEXT’s proposal includes a massive refinery, a towering flare stack, huge storage tanks, a hydrogen plant, and a mile-long, six-track-wide rail yard. NEXT once promised that its rail impacts would be “minimal” but the current proposal has already displaced mint farming and could further disrupt wetlands and water systems that support blueberry, cattle, and other agricultural operations.

The refinery would be a major polluter, each year generating over one million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and 98,796 tons of solid waste (2,826 truck loads). The refinery would also release contaminated industrial stormwater into local waterways and emit significant amounts of smog-forming air pollution.  

NEXT would permanently destroy over 100 acres of wetlands, representing one of the largest single losses of wetlands in Oregon’s recent history. The wetland mitigation NEXT proposes to offset this staggering loss is not certain to result in increased wetland function and lacks adequate assurances that it will continue in perpetuity. 

Backers of the refinery have an extensive history of misleading the community and regulators. The Army Corps’ EIS should clearly explain the threats that NEXT poses to the community at Port Westward and the entire Lower Columbia River. Please produce a final EIS that accurately reflects how NEXT’s proposal would be contrary to the public interest, and deny the Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for this facility.

Sincerely,