NEXT's Refinery Threatens Clean Water, Farms, Salmon

News Story Highlights Local Opposition to NEXT Refinery and Risky Behavior by NEXT’s Backers

By Dan Serres, Conservation Director

Today, Willamette Week ran an article about the so-called “renewable” diesel refinery proposed by Houston-based NEXT Renewables LLC near Clatskanie, Oregon. The story clearly conveys the local community’s deep distrust of NEXT’s promises and backers.  

That distrust is understandable, given what the story reveals about NEXT’s leadership. The former face of NEXT, Lou Soumas, left the company in late 2020 following his arrest on felony charges of sexual misconduct with a child. Chris Efird, Soumas’s replacement, has a history of brokering risky investments like setting up shell corporations and speculating on penny stocks; two of his forays into fuels and refining have ended in failure. 

Unfortunately, the Willamette Week article missed the mark on NEXT’s “renewable diesel” branding. NEXT’s actual plans undercut its “renewable” claims. Simply put, NEXT’s proposal is neither renewable nor sustainable: 

• NEXT plans to use fracked gas and potentially unsustainable feedstocks to produce hundreds of millions of gallons of diesel each year. 
• NEXT would destroy wetlands in the Columbia River Estuary—amid farms, residences, and close to a Buddhist monastery. 
• NEXT proposes building its refinery on unstable soils that could liquefy in an earthquake, behind dikes at risk of over-topping in a major flood, and amid sensitive agricultural drainage infrastructure.

Willamette Week’s coverage mentions another setback for the project. Earlier this month, Oregon DEQ denied NEXT’s Clean Water Act 401 Certification because NEXT failed to provide basic information about the proposal. A draft federal environmental impact statement should be released for public comment in early 2023. NEXT’s refinery is far from a done deal. 

Willamette Week’s reporting makes clear that the community at Port Westward distrusts Houston-based NEXT. We will stand with the community at Port Westward in demanding that public agencies don’t sign off on this shaky project. The future of the Lower Columbia River and the health and safety of the community at Port Westward are at stake.