The leasing opportunity for Foss Maritime to use Terminal 5 on Harbor Island as a service hub for Shell Oil vessels has officially been approved to move forward by the Port Commission. After a heated debate amongst the five commissioners a 3 to 2 split decision was reached in favor of the Foss lease.

Comprised of Stephanie Bowman, Tom Albro, John Creighton, Courtney Gregoire and Bill Bryant the Port Commission held its meeting in the Central Auditorium at SeaTac airport at 1 p.m. on Jan. 13. With nearly 200 people in attendance ranging from local union and business representatives to concerned citizens there was little doubt as to the weight of the Commission’s decision.

The first order of business was a round of public testimony with 20 speakers signed up to present their case “for” or “against” the Foss lease at Pier 5.

“For the people here to support this project is reckless and devastating, not just for the people of Washington but for people all over this entire planet and it is wrong,” voiced one Seattle resident.

“We are excited about the potential for any use, any maritime use, and keeping with the Duwamish management plan and keeping with industrial maritime jobs, industrial lands, this certainly fits that, and our members are excited to go back to work” expressed one ILWU Local 19 representative.

A notable rise in the decibels of the applause followed the speakers who argued in favor of the Foss lease, with a majority of the presenters citing the potential for hundreds of family wage jobs and the influx of business revenue that workers for the vessels would bring to the Puget Sound area.

The lease would allow 24 vessels with Shell Oil to be serviced or moored in the Puget Sound with hundreds of job opportunities for local workers.
Roughly a third of the speakers presented arguments against the lease with numerous speakers referencing a recent New York Times article on the wreck of the Kulluk oil rig as well as research done by University College London on Arctic drilling which was published in the journal Nature.

During a presentation by the Seaport Division Managing Director Linda Styrk the timeline for the Pier 5 project was revealed to be ahead of schedule, with 30% design having been achieved. The permitting process is expected to be finished by mid-2016 with the construction phase expected to be finished by mid-2018. A deepening project in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to begin in 2018 and continue through 2025. Styrk also informed the Commission of the “caretaker” costs associated with an empty terminal explaining that each year that Pier 5 sits “dark” it costs approximately $1.6 million.

Most notable though were the discussions held between the commissioners themselves following a briefing on the lease from Foss CEO Paul Stevens. In his comments Stevens announced to the Commission a deadline of Jan.15 (less than 48 hours at the time) to make a decision on the lease if one was not forthcoming, leveraging that the leasing opportunity along with certain Foss assets already in the Puget Sound and associated with Shell Oil would be moved to Dutch Harbor.

“We are fully committed to being a “green gateway” and being where a sustainable world is headed, and those are values and commitments and a mission statement that are coming into clash as we talk about this project here today,” said Gregoire following Stevens presentation.

“To those who would say “you have no authority over drilling in the arctic, you’re just being asked to sign a lease in a regular course of business, it’s not your role to consider these things”, I say I just don’t accept that as a public agency. We are actually responsible for stewarding our public office for the public good and that is a real challenge when it comes to weighing values, but that is a challenge that we decided to take on by running for office and being elected to the Port of Seattle,” she continued.

“Whether we accept this lease or not today will not impact arctic drilling,” expressed Commissioner Creighton of his support.

Also vocally against approval was Commissioner Albro who focused his concerns on finding an “exit strategy” in the lease agreement to ensure that Foss and Shell Oil would only be temporary tenants during the modernization project on T-5. Motions put forward by Albro to set provisions to the lease agreement during the meeting were denied on the basis of such decisions requiring more time and consideration.
To be fair, the decision was clearly described by all members of the Commission as being “very difficult” and going against the grain of their collective personal values. A common concession among the 3 commissioners who gave their approval was to find a way to improve environmental codes and standards in the Northwest, including ramping up support for Governor Jay Inslee’s platform on environmental protection.

“This is the toughest decision we have had to make,” said Commissioner Bowman.
Following the decision Paul Queary, a communication rep with Foss Maritime, said “obviously we’re pleased; we are still in negotiations with Port staff about where we go from here and just in terms of the conditions of the lease.”

When asked if Foss was surprised at the reaction from the public Queary said “It’s obviously something that people care about in both directions”.