For Immediate Release – August 7, 2019
Contact: Steve Storms, BSChE, PE (retired) , steve.storms.act@gmail.com
The City of Tacoma withheld emergency response planning models about Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility from the public. Advocates for a Cleaner Tacoma (ACT) recently obtained Public Disclosure Request (PDR) results (See Figures 1 and 2) that show the Tacoma Fire Department (TFD) ran emergency response planning models resulting in a zone up to 12.6 miles . TFD ran their emergency response models in 2016, more than 3 years ago, but did not disclose the information to the public. This is in contrast to the safety siting model completed by PSE that was used for siting new facilities, which resulted in a 550 foot radius zone.
Emergency response planning information was also withheld in 2015 when the TFD ran a different model (See Figure 3) which indicated the zone was up to one mile (5,280 feet), reaching into Northeast Tacoma. This model was run the day after the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was filed, which kept it out of the FEIS. Again this was only discovered by a public disclosure request.
The City of Tacoma and TFD are required to share this safety information with residents. The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986 compels industry and agencies to inform their communities of the potential risks in cases of hazardous and toxic chemical emergencies. The intent of EPCRA is to inform communities in advance of any exposures so that proper emergency plans can be developed.
Grant Ringel, Director, Customer Market Strategies and LNG spokesman for PSE stated in the Tacoma News Tribune in 2016, “It is required that we are able to demonstrate through that process that whatever happens on the site, whether it be a pipe break or whether it be a roof of the tank collapsing, whatever might happen there, we have to study that and demonstrate that it is contained within the fence line,” He said. “If we can’t prove that, we will not be able to operate the plant, and I think this is really important for that to be out there and to be considered.” ACT does not believe that scenarios were studied to cover “whatever might happen”, and agrees with Mr Ringel that the plant should not operate until such scenarios are studied and made public.
The City’s failure to disclose critical safety information to the community violates the public trust. Citizens should not have to submit public disclosure requests to understand potential impacts to them from controversial industrial projects. These actions seem to demonstrate a trend to favor PSE and the LNG project instead of protecting the public safety. Tacoma citizens deserve better.
