The Portland City Council held its first hearing Thursday on an ordinance banning new bulk fossil fuel storage facilities in the city. If the ordinance passes, it will be the first of its kind in the nation, supporters say.
"Sadly, given the election, now more than ever we need local action," said Susan Anderson, director of the city's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, which has been working on the ordinance.
Related: Portland Approves 'Landmark' Fossil Fuel Limits
"We can't rely on a future president who doesn't even believe that climate change is real," she said. "But we know the science is clear."
Anderson urged the council to adopt the ordinance, describing it as a powerful next step for a city known for its leadership addressing climate change. Portland has cut its per capita carbon emissions by 40 percent since 1990, according to the Bureau.
The ordinance changes city code to make fossil fuel terminals a "limited use" in the city, in effect banning new bulk terminals over 2 million gallons. It also tightly limits the growth of existing bulk fuel storage facilities that serve local and regional markets. They could only grow their facilities if they chose to replace existing tanks with seismically upgraded tanks. In that case, they could increase their fuel storage capacity by 10 percent.
Much of Portland's so-called fuel tank farms sit along the Willamette River, on ground that is likely or highly likely to liquefy during an earthquake. The vast majority of the tanks were not built to survive a Cascadia subduction zone quake.
The code change applies to a wide range of fossil fuels including coal, crude oil, natural gas, methane and propane.
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales has said the public outcry over proposals for coal export facilities along the Columbia River and a propane terminal in Portland prompted the measure. Hales has also cited well-known climate change activist Bill McKibben and the "Leave it in the ground" movement as an influence.
"We can't regulate what the railroads carry though our city, very much. We can't regulate what barge companies carry up and down the Columbia River at all," Hales said. "But we can regulate what happens in our community, on land subject to the laws of Portland."
Critics of the ordinance have raised concerns it could have unforeseen effects on the supply of gasoline and other fuels statewide.
Portland is the state's largest fossil fuel distribution hub. Oregon has no refineries of its own.
The state gets petroleum from the Olympic pipeline, which runs from refineries in western Washington and terminates in Portland. Petroleum terminals clustered along the Willamette River serve more than 90 percent of the statewide market and also serve markets in southwest Washington and the Tri-Cities area.
The Portland Business Alliance, the Working Waterfront Association and the Western States Petroleum Association have all opposed the ordinance and suggested it is moving forward too quickly.
Oregon's diesel and gasoline use has remained relatively stable over the last 15 years, according to the Oregon Department of Energy. The demand for gasoline, for example, has hovered around 1.5 billion gallons a year.
The council's hearing Thursday was packed, largely with supporters who urged it to adopt the measure. Many who came to speak were students.
"We cannot afford for you to simply pass this on to us. We know that we have to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure now if we are to have any hope of remaining within reasonable emissions limits and preventing climate chaos," Tucker Holsten, a Lincoln high school student, told the council.
A few representatives from the fuel and barging industry came to express their concerns.
"I feel like we've been invited to a barbecue and we're on the menu," said Rob Mathers, a director of business development at Kinder Morgan, who noted that he believes in climate change.
Mathers suggested that the limits on his company's ability to install larger fuel storage tanks would make it financially infeasible to replace older models with tanks designed to withstand an earthquake.
"We feel that this will lead to disinvestment in the bulk fossil fuel terminals, which will result in no improvements in seismic resiliency," he said.
At that, Commissioner Amanda Fritz looked taken aback.
"You saw the gas explosion in Northwest (Portland)," she said. "Is your company not worried about liability in that instance?"
Hales' staff said he plans to work on amendments to the ordinance and bring it back to the council for a vote next week.
