Seattle Port in Hot Water over Shell Deal

A coalition of nine U.S. environmental organizations called on the Port of Seattle to reconsider its recently announced plan to lease Terminal 5 to Foss Maritime as the home port of Shell’s Arctic oil drilling operation, or to prepare for a lawsuit, the coalition member Climate Solutions reports.

Citing both significant environmental impact and lack of public process, the coalition is calling on the port to halt the lease, and to allow a full vetting and public process.

”Our region and the port’s economic future is not in an oily hole at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. We envision a port where business, labor, and environmental interests can work together to build sustainable, broadly shared prosperity,” said KC Golden, Policy Director at Climate Solutions and 350.org Interim Board Director.

The newly-formed coalition was created to respond to the January 13 port commission’s go-ahead to lease Terminal 5 for up to four years as the new home of Shell’s Arctic exploratory and drilling fleet.

At last week’s meeting, two of the port’s commissioners called unsuccessfully to delay the lease.

”All we need is one more commissioner to vote for a public process to prevent the port from proceeding with this terrible decision,” said attorney Peter Goldman.

Image: Climate Solutions/Facebook