Puget Sound Energy is yet again trying to increase rates for residential gas and electric customers. Part of this will be to pay for the construction costs of their Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility that the Puyallup Tribe is still fighting in court. There will be a public hearing and the Utilities and Transportation Commission need to hear from you that these increases should be denied. Public Hearing Wednesday September 28th starting at 6pm Click here to join by Zoom   By phone: dial 253-215-8782 and use Conference ID 834 6224 4485 and Passcode 772950. UTC website: https//utc.wa.gov ..read more

In November 2017, the City of Tacoma passed the Tideflats Interim Regulations to protect the Tacoma Tideflats (the Port’s so called MIC, or Manufacturing Industrial Center) from new fossil fuel and heavy industrial uses. These Interim Regulations initially lasted for one year but now expire every six months unless they are extended by the City Council. The next vote on renewal is May 2021. A short video to help explain the Tideflats Interim Regulations and Subarea Plan. The Tideflats Interim Regulations were put in place to stop major development while the City and other stakeholders decide h ..read more

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently filed an amicus brief, joining the Puyallup Tribe and Earthjustice in calling the analysis of Puget Sound Energy’s Liquefied Natural Gas facility unacceptable. The facility, which will process and store methane, is also referred to as “Tacoma LNG.” “The bottom-line greenhouse gas analysis erroneously informed decision-makers that the Project would result in slight improvement in greenhouse gas emissions, where an accurate analysis would have found something different.” Highlighting a major point of contention—the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s ..read more

On Tuesday night, almost four years exactly to the date that the Interim Regulations were first enacted, the Tacoma City Council passed a set of Non Interim Regulations to replace them. They will remain in place while the rezoning of the Port is considered during the Tideflats Subarea Planning process. Only Council Member Beale voted against the deeply flawed regulations. “I think there’s a disconnect between what we’re doing here and our environmental policy,” said Beale before the vote. As passed, the Non Interim Regulations contain a weak definition of “cleaner fuels,” so weak, in fact, tha ..read more

If you want the quick version of this, know that we still want the city to pass the Non Interim Regulations as proposed by the Planning Commission. No amendments, no expansion, no exceptions! If you need more background on this issue, read our previous blog about it. If you want more detail, read on. October 5 marked the first in yet another round of city council meetings dealing with the Non Interim Regulations for the Port of Tacoma. At that meeting, Mayor Woodards said that proper consultation with the Puyallup Tribe was needed in the schedule, so it has now shifted to the following: Octob ..read more

Dressed in white doctor’s coats, volunteers from 350 Tacoma paraded a 16-foot wide pair of glasses from 311 Puyallup Avenue to Tollefson Plaza, handing out 200 flyers to curious passersby. Playing the role of concerned optometrists, the group hopes that the glasses will address the City Council’s short-sightedness when it comes to taking action on the climate crisis. It has been nearly two years since the City Council declared a Climate Emergency (Resolution 40509) and while they have considered justice while revising the City’s Environmental Action Plan, no real steps have been taken to avert ..read more

As many of you know, the Puyallup Tribe and concerned residents of Tacoma and beyond have been fighting Puget Sound Energy’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility for years now. In reality it is a fracked methane gas refinery (also producing other explosive gases for sale) and distribution center that is being built on Puyallup Tribal land without their consent and will only perpetuate climate damage for decades to come. To top it off, Puget Sound Energy is aiming to have their customers pay for 43% of the facility while only scheduled to receive about 2% of its use. Legal Action While demonst ..read more

by Bradley Thompson The WPPSS (pronounced “whoops”) debacle of the early 1980s offers some interesting parallels to today. Back in the 1970s and 80s, speculators believed that cheap “clean” nuclear power would be the energy of the future.  Through the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), public bonds were issued to provide financing to build new energy infrastructure for which demand never materialized. The project was ultimately scrapped due to cost overruns, project delays, sloppy oversight, and the  public’s growing concerns with the safety of nuclear energy. Hundreds of ..read more

Why Liquefied Natural Gas? How did Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) come to be seen as viable fuel source for ships?  Why is a refinery and storage tank being built in the Port of Tacoma? To answer this, let’s first go back a few steps and look at how various fuels are made from crude oil. Origins of Fuels Crude oil, or petroleum, is what Exxon, Chevron, BP, and other oil companies around the world are busy digging, pumping and drilling out of the earth.  In this raw form, however, it’s not very useful as it’s a messy mixture of different hydrocarbons, which are simply chemicals made of ..read more

by Tracy Wiegman On May 7th, 2018, Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) made a decision to delay the conversion of their ships, the Midnight Sun and the North Star, to burn Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).  The adjustment to the conversion schedule aligns their ship’s LNG-readiness to the latest completion date for the Puget Sound Energy LNG project. TOTE goes on to say they are fully committed to convert.  We, the growing opposition to Puget Sound Energy’s LNG refinery, know they should not be so sure of themselves at this point! A Celebration     A group of us decide ..read more