RECAP: Rumble on the River Community Forum

RECAP: Rumble on the River Community Forum

By Kate Murphy, Community Organizer

Thank you for joining us for the online community forum “Rumble on the River Community Forum: What’s Up with Zenith Energy and the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub in Portland." Together, we can make a difference.

If you missed the online community forum, you can check out the recording here:

About the event

“Rumble on the River Community Forum: Zenith Energy and the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub in Portland,” the first in a series of community-driven forums to educate and activate around the threats to public health, safety, and our environment stemming from the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub, with a focus on Zenith Energy’s oil-by-rail operations. The CEI Hub is a six-mile stretch of old tank farms, located in NW Portland along the Willamette River just upstream from its convergence with the Columbia River. The CEI Hub holds more than 90% of all liquid fuel in Oregon. Located within the CEI Hub is Zenith, the source of dangerous oil trains plowing through our communities.

Concerned yet? You should be!

Despite years of public outcry against Zenith’s dangerous operations, on October 3, the City of Portland quietly approved a Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS)—giving Zenith the green light for five more years of oil trains, and all the threats it presents in our communities! This is a huge slap in the face to the thousands of community members who oppose these threats to our community and our planet. Here is more bad news: the entire CEI Hub is on what is known as a liquefaction zone—meaning in the likely case of an eventual earthquake, the soil will become the consistency of cake batter. The result of this would be catastrophic for our communities, the ecosystem, and the Lower Columbia River. We are organizing to make sure that doesn’t happen and we need you.

Speakers in the panel:

• Nick Caleb, Climate and Energy Attorney with Breach Collective; 
• Micah Meskel, Activist Program Manager with Portland Audubon; 
• Laurie King, long-time community advocate; 
• Melanie Plaut, retired doctor and member of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility; 
• John Wasiutynski, Multnomah County Office of Sustainability Director; 
• Moderated by Kate Murphy, Community Organizer with Columbia Riverkeeper.

Columbia Riverkeeper is pleased to be a partner in this community forum series, the collaborative effort of many local and regional organizations and concerned community members. Join us to learn more about the threats from Zenith and the CEI Hub, what’s next, and how you can get engaged. We need you in this fight! 

What's next?

Don’t forget, this community forum was the first in a series. If Covid guidelines permit, we will host in-person forums on November 16, 2022; December 8, 2022; and January 17, 2023. Feel free to forward this blog to your friends and neighbors. Thank you for working to protect our communities and our environment.