Tonight at the relatively sparsely attended ABC meeting Bruce discussed the proposed crude oil terminals, and barge and ship transportation of crude oil out of Grays Harbor across the Westport bar, and off to refineries. The potential for catastrophic oil-spills impacting the whole west coast shorebird populations at this key migration stopover is sickening to me. Here is a birder-specific letter you can modify to write to oppose this now during the key “scope of impact” considerations. Copy, paste, modify & improve, and personalize this and mail to
Westway and Imperial Renewables Expansion Projects
710 Second Avenue Suite 550
Seattle, WA 98104
Dear City of Hoquiam and Washington State Department of Ecology:
I strongly oppose the construction of crude oil terminals in Grays Harbor. Gray’s Harbor mudflats are one of 5 major migratory shorebird staging sites in North America. For several species of shorebirds a very large proportion of the world’s population pauses in their northbound flight from wintering grounds south of here en route to arctic breeding grounds to rest and feed on the extraordinarily rich marine environment of Grays Harbor and Bowerman Basin. These species include Western Sandpiper, Red Knot, Short-billed Dowicher, Least Sandpiper and Semipalmated Plover. Moving oil on ships or barges over the treacherous bar on entering or exiting Gray’s Harbor has a real possibility of a significant oil spill. If such a tragedy occurred at a critical time with impact on the spring stopover of these birds it could decimate the world’s population of several of these species.
Grays Harbor is such a crucial and unique environment in the life-cycle of these species that risking this type of accident is unthinkable. I beg you to include the impact on these shorebirds, as well as the rest of this key west-coast flyway habitat in the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement for both the Westway and Imperium projects.
Edward Pullen
3106 28th Place SE
Puyallup, WA 98374
253-905-5662
Edward Pullen MD
The deadline for these is the end of this week, so please do this ASAP.
Thanks.
Ed
