Take Action: Port Westward

NEXT Renewables LLC is asking Columbia County to approve over 3 miles of rail tracks to bring in mile-long trains of feedstock to the proposed refinery. The rail yard will displace farming, impact local water resources, and disrupt the community. Let’s stand together to urge the Columbia County Planning Commission to listen to the community at Port Westward and reject the rail yard.

Sign our petition today! 

Re: Rail Yard and NEXT Modification of Prior Approval

To the Columbia County Planning Commission:

The Planning Commission should deny NEXT’s request to build miles of new rail track at Port Westward. NEXT initially promoted its refinery with a commitment not to use frequent, long trains to bring in feedstock for the refinery. The rail yard is a major bait-and-switch with major, negative effects on the community and local farms. 

Because NEXT does not control the property where it would build the rail track, the application is premature and approving it would waste the Planning Commission's time and resources. Specifically, NEXT has failed to demonstrate that it has secured an agreement with PGE to build track on PGE’s leasehold. NEXT has also failed to obtain permission to alter drainage systems controlled by the Beaver Drainage Improvement Company (BDIC). Those agreements could easily require changes to NEXT’s rail plan. And if NEXT never gets permission from PGE and BDIC, NEXT may submit an entirely different rail yard proposal (or none whatsoever). Accordingly, the application is premature, and the Planning Commission should not waste its time approving a speculative land use application. 

The proposed modification conflicts with the County’s land use rules, and the application fails to consider relevant local impacts. Instead, NEXT is dodging issues related to the rail yard and trying to rely on prior decisions, such as impacts to farming, water resources, and land uses in the area. The prior review and approval of the refinery facility did not include consideration of the rail, and so NEXT must provide specific analysis about the rail-related impacts on local resources and land uses. LUBA denied a separate approval for the rail yard in 2022, and so the overturned approval should not be relied upon to judge the impacts of the rail yard. Multiple miles of rail tracks are a change in scope and intensity, both.

In summary, NEXT has failed to show that the “potential impact upon the area resulting from the proposed use has been addressed and any adverse impact will be able to be mitigated.” Rather than relying on past analyses of the refinery’s impacts, NEXT’s applications should have addressed the particular impacts of building the rail yard and road at the new location. NEXT failed to provide detailed analysis of these issues.

Please listen to the members of the community with decades of experience living and working at Port Westward. They understand the implications and impact of NEXT’s proposed rail yard better than the Houston-based company that is actively working to break its promise to the community. 

Sincerely,