By Nancy Hiser, LNA Environmental Committee
Linnton Neighborhood Association (LNA) first wrote an opposition statement about the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub threat in the fall of 2018, asking the tank farms here to relocate to geographically diverse and stable bedrock, based on then-current knowledge of our community’s huge risks and the city’s and state’s extreme vulnerability in the event of a significant earthquake.
It was updated in the fall of 2020 with new reports and evidence that had been made public after the initial statement. Both statements were circulated and co-signed by 50 supporting groups including Portland Neighborhood Associations, faith-based groups, and other civic organizations.
LNA recently issued a third statement in January 2022 detailing information about our unsatisfactory outreach to the CEI Hub industries, the city’s and county’s in-depth assessment of the CEI Hub’s seismic risk, and a report from Engineers for a Sustainable Future which spelled out the potentially disastrous environmental and financial risks we are facing.
The Oregon Seismic Safety Advisory Commission in 2019 stated the the City and County have the authority to take action to make us safer. We are calling on Portland and Multnomah County Officials to do that.