From local station KGMI:
Environmental Group to Sue State Refineries
Five oil refineries, including two in Whatcom County, and three agencies that regulate them are being forced to defend themselves in court.
The Sierra Club and Washington Environmental Council are hoping to force the State Department of Ecology and the Northwest and Puget Sound Clean Air Agencies to enforce greenhouse gas regulations under the Clean Air Act.
Northwest Clean Air Agency Executive Director Mark Asmundson says he hopes the suit can be settled in a way that results in real environmental benefit.
The refineries are BP Cherry Point and ConocoPhillips in Whatcom County, Shell and Tesoro in Anacortes, and U.S. Oil in Tacoma.
The key statement is: "enforce greenhouse gas regulations"
Excerpted from the Sierra Club website:
"The oil refineries pose a clear threat to the health and welfare of Washington's residents," said Aaron Robins of the Sierra Club. "These polluters need to clean up their act. Right now Washington families are the ones getting stuck with the bill as climate change devastates traditional Washington industries like shellfish growing, reduces our snowpack and water supply, and harms our forests and ecosystems.
What climate change? The snowpack is at anywhere from 80% to 144% of average.
As for shellfish growing, from this 2009 report, the key problems are bacterial infestation caused by excessive rainfall overflowing rural septic systems.
More from the Puget Sound Partnership:
What's the problem?
Puget Sound provides an estimated 165,000 acres of shoreline for shellfish harvest, according to the Washington Department of Health. Of that total, Health has classified about 28,000 acres - approximately 17 percent - as restricted or prohibited for commercial and recreational harvest.
Pollution from a variety of sources, mainly sewage pollution, threatens the shoreline areas where oysters, clams and other bivalve shellfish grow.
Resource managers are focusing significant attention on controlling the sources of pollution to keep the region's shellfish growing areas clean and open for recreational, commercial and tribal harvesting.
What are the key threats to shellfish habitat?
The region's large and fast-growing population poses a significant challenge to keeping our shoreline waters clean and preserving shellfish-harvest opportunities across the region.
In addition to and partly as a result of population growth, the following are the primary sources of pollution threatening shellfish growing areas:Fecal pollution from municipal and septic systems.
Stormwater runoff.
Animal waste from agricultural operations.
Notice any mention of refineries? Neither did I...
Now, looking at the Washington Environmental Council's web page:
Reducing Climate Pollution from Oil Companies
WEC and our partners at the Sierra Club have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle to require five oil refineries in Washington to improve energy efficiency and take other steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
A bit more:
Oil refineries are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions nationally, and Washington's five oil refineries contribute significantly to statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Together Washington refineries account for an estimated 8% of the state's global warming pollution output, making the sector one of the largest single contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in Washington.
And do they show the source for these numbers? No. And is CO2 a useful gas? Yes -- it is at the heart of photosynthesis which is how plants grow. Without CO2, we would have no food.
These people are on the fringes of society, they are lobbying for policy decisions based on stunningly bad science and they do not care about the lives of the other 95% of us who also share the planet. They are spoiled little six year olds who are going to keep crying until Mommy lets them have their way.
They need a good spanking and to be sent to their room without dinner...
