SeaPort Sound Terminal (formerly Targa) is seeking to expand its fossil fuel storage capacity by about 14%, building 8 new storage tanks on land that is prone to liquefaction during an earthquake.
At a time we’re suffering from historic wildfires up and down the west coast, does it really seem appropriate to expand our fossil fuel footprint?
A major issue with this project is that there is no scheduled review of the impacts to rail or vessel traffic. Bringing more fossil fuels into Tacoma could cause an increase in rail and vessel traffic – vessels that would be traveling in the same habitat as our endangered southern resident orcas. These impacts must be analyzed!
Written comments are due by 5pm on Monday September 21st. Join us in asking the City to make a Determination of Significance (DS) for Seaport Sound’s expansion proposal. The DS would force the City to complete the much-needed environmental review of the project.
Washington Environmental Council has provided some great talking points on this issue: https://rb.gy/55xqiu
Here are a couple of easy templates you can use to submit your comments. You can submit as many comments as you wish. It’s highly recommended that you add one or two sentences of your own words so that the letter stands as a distinct document, which helps in the way that these comments are tallied.
350 Tacoma template letter: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-seaport-expansion
Citizens for a Healthy Bay template letter: https://actionnetwork.org/…/tell-the-city-of-tacoma-not…
You can also send comments directly to City of Tacoma by emailing shirley.schultz@cityoftacoma.org.