The Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub is a six-mile stretch of industrial land in northwest Portland between the Willamette River and Forest Park, where millions of gallons of toxic and explosive liquids are stored in hundred-year-old tanks atop unstable land that will liquefy in an earthquake. As part of the City of Portland's process of updating policies and zoning code to regulate bulk fuel facilities in the CEI Hub, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) has released a draft plan with four alternative options, only one of which even begins to address the dangers.
The City is accepting public comments on these alternatives until October 17.
Frann Michel talks with Nick Caleb, an attorney with the Breach Collective, about the CEI Hub and the work done by community groups and local activists to address the CEI Hub's dangers to public health, safety, environment, and climate.
You can also learn more about the CEI Hub from past episodes of the Old Mole:
https://kboo.fm/media/121405-tank-farm-disaster-waiting
and KBOO's Locus Focus:
https://kboo.fm/media/129479-cei-hub-city-council-perspective
https://kboo.fm/media/129357-what-can-we-do-about-cei-hub
https://kboo.fm/media/109697-portlands-cei-hub
https://kboo.fm/media/99560-cei-hub-ticking-catastrophic-environmental-time-bomb
Image courtesy of Breach Collective, aerial view of CEI Hub, showing tanks with river on one side and forest on the other.