Groups Oppose Plan To Build Fuel Pipeline Across Cascades

An application to build the state’s first fuel pipeline across the Cascade Mountains is expected to be filed Monday by a Renton company.

The move comes as no surprise to a loose alliance of environmentalists, land owners and a rival fuel carrier that has been organizing for months to thwart the proposal.

Olympic Pipeline Co., which is owned by ARCO, Texaco and GATX, wants to build a 227-mile underground pipeline from Woodinville to Pasco. The pipeline would carry gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from Puget Sound area oil refineries to the Tri-Cities for a fraction of what it now costs to ship the fuel by truck or barge, company officials say.

That could lower gas prices in Eastern Washington and actually be safer for the environment, said Bill Mulkey, environmental affairs manager for Olympic.

Leading the opposition is the Cascade Columbia Alliance, which is supported by environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Washington Environmental Council. Also supporting it are some land owners along the proposed route and Tidewater Barge Lines, which ships fuel up the Columbia River to Eastern Washington.

The filing with the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council will kick off a review process that could drag on for a year and a half. EFSEC includes representatives from 11 state agencies and from counties in the path of the pipeline. The governor holds veto power over the council’s decisions.

Sharon and David Damkaer hope EFSEC will reject the proposal.

If approved, the pipe would cut across the Damkaers’ 10-acre property south of Monroe. They are afraid the pipe will spoil their dreams of retiring from the National Marine Fisheries Service to an alpine paradise.

“We bought this as a retirement place to save our little part of the wilderness,” said David Damkaer, 57.