Power Past Coal began in 2012 to build our power against the coal industry’s plans to build seven export terminals in the Pacific Northwest. As that campaign grew in power, the region began to see a new emerging threat of increasing mile plus long oil trains. In response, the Stand Up To Oil coalition formed in 2015 to fight eight proposed oil-by-rail terminals Over the years, our people power has grown and has defeated of all eight proposed oil terminals and all seven proposed coal terminals. Yet, our work was not over. In 2018, Power Past Fracked Gas launched to tackle the onslaught of fracked gas terminal projects and to grow the power of all three campaigns.
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Each of these terminal projects is located in a single community, yet the impact of these terminals is felt across the region and beyond. The oil trains that would have fed the Tesoro-Savage terminal in Vancouver would have snaked through the City of Spokane, followed the Columbia River, and traveled through the middle of many towns. Similarly, the fracked gas that would go to the Kalama methanol facility would be fracked in a community to our north, travel the course of the pipeline, and result in climate pollution that we all have to address. We are bound together by the rail lines, pipelines, waterways, and air we all breathe.
While we have successfully defeated terminals, the fight against fossil fuels is only growing more complex as the industry shifts to convert existing facilities into crude oil export facilities, diversifies refining operations for new petrochemical products, and seeks new complex gas facilities for transportation fuel, electricity generation, and other uses.
This continued threat creates a crucial opportunity – to work together and grow our power for all Washingtonians to usher in a new, clean energy economy.
