The city of Vancouver, not the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, has the authority to decide how energy facilities must treat their wastewater before they connect to the city’s sewage treatment plant, the council recently ruled.
“We were not surprised by (the council’s) decision,” said Vancouver City Attorney E. Bronson Potter. “I think as far back as May there was an indication they would be issuing a decision to this effect.”
Vancouver Energy’s proposed rail-to-marine terminal at the Port of Vancouver would handle up to 360,000 barrels of crude oil per day and discharge a maximum monthly average of 36,000 gallons of industrial wastewater into the city’s sewer system.
That volume and type of discharge requires the company to get a permit for how it pretreats wastewater before its discharged into the city’s wastewater treatment system.
But Vancouver Energy and the city of Vancouver disagreed over who should issue the permit.
Vancouver Energy argued that state law gave the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, not the city, exclusive jurisdiction is issue industrial waste discharge permits for energy facilities.
The company also argued that when the Environmental Protection Agency approved the Washington state’s plan to implement the National Pretreatment Program, which aims to keep pollutants out of local sewage treatment plants, it did so knowing that state laws would give the evaluation council permitting authority over energy facilities.
To settle the matter, the evaluation council had to determine if it had the authority to issue a permit for the discharge of industrial wastewater from the proposed oil terminal into Vancouver’s sewage treatment plant when the city already has an approved pretreatment program.
According to Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council documents, Vancouver Energy included a waste discharge permit as part of its site application to the evaluation council in 2013. In early 2014, the company resubmitted its application to the evaluation council for an industrial waste discharge permit.
In its decision, the council sided with the city, saying it never asked for and was never given the authority by the EPA to permit the discharge of industrial wastewater into a city’s sewage treatment plant. It also cited a letter to the council from the EPA saying the council doesn’t have the permitting authority.
The documents show that Vancouver’s program meets all federal criteria and is approved by the state Department of Ecology.
“The city is responsible for administering and enforcing the federal program and any state or local standards,” the document read.
Also, the council said its asserting jurisdiction would make the city “subject to two potentially inconsistent directives.”
Jeff Hymas, communications director for Savage, said the order implements a decision made a few months ago.
“We have already taken steps to address this decision and believe there will be no concerns with meeting the applicable standards,” he said. “We remain committed to building and operating our facility in a safe and environmentally responsible way.”
The city of Vancouver has taken a strong stance against the oil terminal. It argued against the terminal during the evaluation council’s adjudication hearings. In July, the city council approved a ban on new oil refineries and facilities. However, the move won’t affect Vancouver Energy’s proposal and the city plans to handle its wastewater permit like any other.
“I think, big picture, we’re going to treat this permit application like we treat any other industrial user even though the city has taken a stance in opposition to the oil terminal,” Potter said.
The evaluation council will make a recommendation to the governor later this year.
Gov. Jay Inslee has the final say over the project and is expected to decide this year or early 2017.
