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Petition Delivered Environmental Quality Commission To Deny Air Permit Over Zenith Energy Scandal

Caitlin Howard

The Petition Calls on the Environmental Quality Commission to Hold City of Portland Officials Accountable for Unlawful Activities in 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
April 8, 2024 

Media Contact:

Nick Caleb, Breach Collective, nick@breachcollective.org, 541-891-6761
Audrey Leonard, Columbia Riverkeeper, audrey@columbiariverkeeper.org, 541-399-4775
Mary Stites, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, mary@nedc.org, 512-739-0116

Portland, Oregon – Today, the Linnton Neighborhood Association, Columbia Riverkeeper, Northwest Environmental Defense Center, Willamette Riverkeeper, and Breach Collective formally petitioned the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) to use its authority to deny Zenith Energy’s air permit application because of unlawful activities in 2022 that led to a Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS) for the Houston-based oil company.

In their 36-page petition, the groups describe Zenith’s history of lawbreaking in Portland—including a recent Portland City Auditor finding that Zenith violated local lobbying rules in 2022—a litany of unlawful actions by city officials, and the authority the EQC has to reject Zenith’s air permit.  

Jonah Sandford, Executive Director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center said: 

“The EQC can invalidate an air permit application if a local Land Use Compatibility review and determination ‘may not be legally sufficient.’ In our petition, we submitted a mountain of evidence showing that the City’s LUCS process for Zenith clearly met that standard. The City flagrantly ignored judicial rulings, blatantly violated its own local procedures, and tried to hide the evidence from Portland’s residents. Even the City’s own auditor found that the City’s activities were highly irregular.” 

Edward Jones, President of the Linnton Neighborhood Association – whose boundaries run up against the Zenith terminal’s operations – said: 

“The City of Portland acted illegally when it negotiated with Zenith behind closed doors and rushed through a decision without giving Portlanders notice or an opportunity to be involved. It’s outrageous that city officials would put us directly in harm's way and tell us that they don’t even owe us the basic protections of the law.” 

Environmental groups put the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on notice about the legal violations in August of 2023. After DEQ refused to exercise its clear authority to hold the city accountable, 31 labor, environmental, and community organizations voiced their concerns in a letter to DEQ Director Leah Feldon. In December 2023, citing similar concerns, Multnomah County also called on DEQ to deny Zenith’s air permit. The County’s letter read, in part:

“We agree with advocates that the Oregon Administrative Procedure, 340-018-0050(2)(a)(C), and the circumstances surrounding this facility warrant a rejection of the permit.

You and the agency have the authority to reject this permit and we ask you to do so. Business as usual is unacceptable, given the immediate risks of this facility, and the risks of climate change…We encourage you to act with the boldness that the moment deserves.”

In 2021, the City of Portland denied Zenith’s LUCS application, explaining that “[w]e know that the activities carried out at this site, and the fossil fuel products being transported, have the potential to directly impact tribal territories, cultural resources, and tribal treaty rights.” The City, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Willamette Riverkeeper successfully defended the decision at the Land Use Board of Appeals and Oregon Court of Appeals. However, on October 3, 2022, just days before the Oregon Supreme Court issued another favorable decision, the City reversed course and announced that they were granting Zenith a LUCS and permission to move oil trains through Portland for at least five more years. 

In August 2023, Street Roots and Desmog published investigative accounts of a behind-closed- doors negotiation that took place between City of Portland officials and Zenith Energy employees and lobbyists in the Summer and Fall of 2022. Through public records requests, journalists discovered that the City of Portland worked in secret to facilitate new permissions for Zenith, made clear efforts to hide their activities, and frustrated attempts at transparency from advocates and journalists. Environmental groups argue that these activities were unlawful. 

Nick Caleb, Climate and Energy Attorney at Breach Collective said:

“For over a year and a half, city officials have managed to dodge accountability for their unlawful and irresponsible backroom dealings with Zenith. By denying Portland residents notice of, opportunity for involvement in, and full information about their sham process, Commissioners Dan Ryan and Carmen Rubio showed us that they care more about Zenith’s profits than the concerns of their own constituents.”   

On Saturday April 6, The Oregonian published comprehensive reporting on Zenith’s air permit application, finding that the oil company is planning to “vastly increase the total amount of fuels it offloads, stores and reloads at its Portland terminal.” The reporting also found that the company failed to disclose risky aspects of its expansion plans to city officials and debunked Zenith’s emissions reductions claims.

Audrey Leonard, Staff Attorney for Columbia Riverkeeper said: 

“The deal brokered between the City and Zenith is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While phasing out crude oil operations is important, it means little when exchanged for a significantly larger quantity of other flammable liquid fuels.” 

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