Arts and Jazz fundraiser raises $16,000 Corps’ BP Cherry Point limit no limit at all, environmental groups say

Environmental groups are unhappy with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ January 23 modification to its 1996 permit that limits the volume of crude oil BP can handle at its Cherry Point facility. They say the ceiling would allow the oil company to double its shipping capacity.

The Corps will limit BP’s capacity to 191 million barrels per year. This limit will be enforced through requiring annual vessel call and crude oil volume reports. However, according to BP’s website, the Cherry Point terminal can process 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day, or slightly more than 91 million barrels per year.

Friends of the San Juans marine protection and policy director Lovel Pratt said in a joint February 1 press release that the decision is nonsensical.

“The Corps’ ‘limit’ on the volume of crude oil that BP can receive at its terminal is nonsensical and unconscionable,” Pratt said. “This ‘limit’ is a license to more than double the volume of crude oil that’s currently processed at BP.”

In 1996, the Corps approved a permit to add a north wing to the already operational south wing of the Cherry Point dock, originally built for ARCO in 1971. BP purchased ARCO in 2000, and construction on the north wing finished in

(See Cherry Pt, page 3)

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