At a Monday breakfast for the Seattle based clean energy non-profit Climate Solutions, Mayor Ed Murray announced he was going to block the Port of Seattle’s lease to host Shell Oil, reports the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Since news broke last January that the Port of Seattle would host Shell on a two-year lease, opposition has been swelling. A “festival of resistance,” is planned for the weekend of May 16th, complete with kayaktivists and blimps reading “Shell No!”
Before this morning’s announcement, the Shell equipment was going to be stored in Terminal 5 while the slot was expanded to accommodate larger cargo ships and cranes. Three of five Port Commissioners, Bill Bryant, Stephanie Bowman and John Creighton, championed the agreement as a way to sustain employment and revenue at Terminal 5, even during construction.
The mayor will block the lease on the grounds that Terminal 5’s 20-year lease is for cargo and does not permit long-term storage of the Shell equipment. “To prevent the full force of climate change,” said the mayor in a statement, “its time to turn the page on things like coal trains, oil trains and oil drilling rigs.”
The Port of Seattle’s Peter McGraw said he could not comment until the port’s lawyers had reviewed the mayor’s decision. Crosscut will update as more information becomes available.
But Cameron Williams, president of the Seattle chapter of the international longshoreman and warehouse union, said he was “extremely disappointed in the mayor. He is undermining our authority.” Seattle, said Williams, has been thriving on business with Alaska for over 100 years. He’s concerned, not only for the ship loaders his union represents, but also the long lasting impact of the port’s ability to attract business. “I think this will have a huge financial impact.”
From here, the port could either file a lawsuit against the mayor’s actions or apply for a permit to amend the conditions of the Terminal 5 lease.
