Demand Full EIS at Port Westward

The Lower Columbia River’s future will be shaped by what happens next at Port Westward.

By Dan Serres, Conservation Director

The Lower Columbia River’s future will be shaped by what happens next at Port Westward. A Houston-based company called NEXT Renewables LLC plans to build a massive refinery to turn seed oil, animal fats, or other feedstocks into diesel, using large quantities of fracked gas in the process. This month, the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is accepting comments regarding the scope of its environmental impact statement (EIS) for NEXT’s proposed new refinery and rail yard at Port Westward.

Check out our guide to submitting scoping comments on NEXT’s refinery and rail yard.

Already, the Corps has stated that the refinery would be “likely to have detrimental impacts” to local air, water, crops, and other resources. We have a chance to urge the Corps to take a hard look at all of the potential negative impacts—including water pollution, wetlands impacts, damage to nearby crops, noise pollution, light pollution, and smog-forming air emissions—that a new diesel refinery and 400-car rail yard would have on its neighbors, the Lower Columbia River, and our region.

Speak up at a public hearing! The virtual hearings will be on June 1, from 6–8pm and June 2, from 1-–3pm. 

• Register to speak! Send an email to nexteis@usace.army.mil - state that you are requesting to testify, and include your name, phone number, and the date of the hearing you’d like to attend. Pre-registered speakers will get to testify first, and people who do not register may only get to speak if time allows.
• Join a virtual hearing and give 3 minutes of testimony about what issues the Corps should consider in the EIS:
  • Dates: June 1 (6–8pm) or June 2 (1–3pm)
    • Zoom link hearing to join online: https://zoom.us/j/92009468278 
    • Or join by phone-only: US: +1 646 558 8656. Enter Webinar ID: 920 0946 8278
• Click here to sign onto a short written comment to the Corps.
• Click here to download a short guide on how to submit oral and written comments.

Residents from the area, including a nearby Buddhist monastery, have raised serious unresolved concerns about the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the refinery and rail yard on neighbors, wildlife, air and water quality, and the climate. Join your voice with theirs, and speak up in early June to protect the Lower Columbia River from a risky diesel project.