Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and state Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller opposed Canada's decision to designate the West Coast Oil Pipeline as a "Project of National Interest" on Oct. 1. The designation puts the project on a fast track, limiting environmental reviews and opportunities for public input.
The proposed pipeline would significantly increase both the volume of crude oil and the number of tankers transiting the Salish Sea. The project would bring supertankers to the region that have been barred from Washington ports since the 1970s—vessels with a capacity of up to 92 million gallons of oil, or 260% more than the largest tankers currently operating in these waters. The pipeline would double the volume of Canadian crude oil passing through Haro Strait and Boundary Pass.
"If a project of this scale is going to proceed, it needs to come with a corresponding commitment to also increase our region's capacity to prevent and respond to a catastrophic spill," Ferguson and Sixkiller said in a joint statement.
Each vessel in the proposed route would carry eight times the volume of oil released during the Exxon Valdez spill. Ferguson and Sixkiller said such an incident would pose an existential threat to Southern Resident Killer Whales, the marine ecosystems of the Salish Sea, and Tribal and First Nations communities that depend on these resources. They said Washington's existing response resources would be insufficient for a spill of this magnitude and called on the Canadian government to make detailed commitments to safeguard the shared marine waters.