Columbia Riverkeeper and our partners are calling on the City of Portland to deny Zenith’s expansion efforts.
Tell the City of Portland: Stop Zenith’s Oil Expansion Efforts
Zenith is once again attempting to expand operations at its oil-by-rail facility in NW Portland. The company requested permission from the City of Portland to build three new pipes under NW Front Ave. One pipe would transport Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate (MDI), a hazardous substance that reacts with water and is known to cause severe respiratory issues to those exposed to its vapors. The other two pipes increase Zenith's capability to handle more crude oil.
Help us convince the City of Portland to deny Zenith’s request.
If approved, Zenith could expand its fossil fuel operations contrary to binding City policy. Zenith’s plans also call for introducing an extremely hazardous material to an area of the City that is already at high risk of catastrophic damage in the event of a major earthquake.
Help us convince the City of Portland to deny Zenith’s request and stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.
Here are the nitty-gritty details:
- Pursuant to an existing contractual agreement it has with the City, Zenith submitted a request to the City’s Office for Community Technology (OCT) to build three new pipes under NW Front Ave.
- According to Zenith, the company would use two pipes for biofuels and one for the “liquid intermediate” MDI.
- Zenith is already handling biofuels at its facility, so allowing it to build additional pipes purportedly dedicated to biofuel transport would free up its existing pipes solely for heavy crude. This would effectively allow the company to expand its heavy crude operation in direct opposition to the City’s policy against increased oil-by-rail traffic.
