Even for a blue city run by the DSA and tree hippies, this would be suicidal.
A petroleum distributor in Portland, Oregon, has sounded the alarm on a plan by the state to reduce the supply of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. In the name of seismic safety, they propose to decommission 20 percent of the storage capacity located in Portland that supplies 90 percent of the fuel for the entire state.
The problem? Oregon already has only a 3-5 day diesel supply at any given time — for the entire state. Reducing that by 20 percent puts the state at extreme risk of fuel shortages during periods of crisis, disaster, or heightened demand.
What this really represents is this deep blue state’s abiding commitment to completely phase out “fossil fuels” in order to save the planet, using “seismic safety” as a cover.
Mark Fitz, the president of StarOilco, posted this on LinkedIn:
Did you know that the terminals in the northwest side of Portland, Oregon only hold a 3-5 day supply of fuel. Also these terminals handle over 90% of the fuel flowing into Oregon. And oh yeah. The City of Portland is proposing these terminals get rid of 20% of their tanks. They say the fuel storage is dangerous. Clearly they aren’t aware of how dangerous it gets when there is no fuel due to a supply problem.
Blue State Extremism
The City of Portland has developed a program to require a 20 percent reduction in fuel storage capacity at the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub in northwest Portland by 2036. The move jeopardizes the region’s fuel supply security. The CEI Hub, a six-mile industrial corridor along the Willamette River, stores approximately 90% of Oregon’s liquid fuel supply — including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
According to state emergency planning documents, the terminals there typically hold an average of only three to five days’ worth of regular unleaded gasoline and diesel under normal operating conditions. Fuel arrives primarily via pipeline from Washington refineries and marine vessels, then gets distributed across the state by truck and pipeline.
City planners argue the reduction is necessary due to the hub’s high seismic vulnerability. The area sits on liquefiable soils and is at significant risk from a major Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Studies by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) and Multnomah County have highlighted the potential for widespread tank failures, spills, fires, and environmental damage on a large scale.
But that is just a cover story for the true agenda.
Portland Dominates, the Rest of Oregon Gets Ignored
The environmental extremists really run the show in Portland. The proposal, developed through the CEI Hub Policy Project, includes limits on new storage expansion and requirements for safety upgrades. In March 2026, the Portland Planning Commission recommended a draft that incorporates the 20 percent capacity drawdown along with other restrictions.
The measure now moves to Portland City Council for public hearings and potential adoption later in 2026. Critics of the plan, including industry representatives and some community members, warn that reducing storage capacity could leave the Pacific Northwest more exposed during supply disruptions. They point to the hub’s already limited inventory buffer and the potential economic and public safety impacts of fuel shortages affecting transportation, heating, emergency services, and aviation.
Supporters of the proposal counter that modernizing infrastructure and reducing overall fuel dependence aligns with long-term climate goals and the “green energy transition.”
As Portland moves toward final deliberations, the outcome will shape energy reliability for the rest of Oregon and the broader region.
From Portland.gov FAQ page:
Q: What changes were adopted by City Council?
A: In December 2022, Portland City Council unanimously adopted code changes to PCC 16.60, also known as Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to further reduce dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels and help meet the City’s 100% Renewable Energy resolution. The changes reflect the State’s new Clean Fuels Program, favorable market conditions, and advances in new renewable fuel products. The new RFS phases in increasing blends of low carbon biofuels over the next several years. The policy will shift Portland’s diesel fuel mix to 99% renewable in 2030. Portland’s policy is unique in that it includes a Carbon Intensity Standard to shift biofuels in Portland to fuels that are lower carbon across their entire lifecycle, like recycled waste grease.Q: What is the phase-in schedule for the RFS?
A: The phase-in schedule is shown in the table below:
Percentage of fuel type by volume Fuel type Current July 1, 2024 July 1, 2026 July 1, 2030 Diesel 95% 85% 50% 1% Renewable fuel requirement (min) 5% 15% 50% 99%
Kyle Diesner, the environmental extremist who crafted this “phase-in” schedule, works for the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability as a Climate Policy Analyst. In March 2026, Diesner testified that carbon emissions in Portland peaked in 2000 and have come down since then. He said, “emissions have declined 26% since 1990, while population has grown 38% and jobs have increased 35%.”
His proposal? Steeper declines. “Decarbonizing the electric grid is a top priority,” Diesner said. He noted that diesel power generation provides 16% of the electricity consumed in Oregon. The switch to biofuels will accomplish those goals, according to Diesner.
He also observed that Portland’s “low carbon concrete procurement policy” requires the city to use less concrete in construction projects, as it represents a source of emissions.
Minuscule Solutions for Global Numbers
According to Oregon’s own statistics, the state accounts for approximately 0.11-0.12 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions.
Of course, the goal of these efforts is not to have a material impact on the environment, it’s to create a society more aligned with the narrative.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Diesner previously sat on the boards of directors for the Community Energy Project, Inc. (CEP), and Resolutions Northwest.
CEP is a 501(c)3 that describes itself as a social welfare organization that “empowers people to maintain healthier, more livable homes, control their utility costs, and conserve natural resources.”
Resolutions Northwest describes its mission as envisioning “inclusive and just communities,” and facilitating “honest dialogue to resolve conflict and advance racial & social justice.” Consulting services they provide include certification as a Practitioner of Restorative Justice.
In short, Diesner is a true believer. And so are most of the city councilors who witnessed his testimony.
So as always, Portland extremism puts the rest of the state at a massive disadvantage. Just as when forest mismanagement leads to devastating wildfires, or the gutting of rural county budgets due to the moratorium on logging activity.
The risk of supply interruptions is no mere abstraction. Just in November 2025, a leak in the Olympic Pipeline near Everett, Washington — which delivers 90 percent of Oregon’s gas, diesel, and jet fuel — led to multiple shutdowns over several weeks. Gov. Tina Kotek (D) declared a statewide fuel emergency in response, and fuel prices skyrocketed.
This followed a shorter pipeline shutdown on the same line a few months earlier.
In 2023, a leak in the pipeline led to another significant shutdown while repairs and cleanup took place. The region also feels effects when trains carrying fuel derail, weather interrupts flows, or global pandemics lead to panics and price spikes.
But none of that matters if Portland considers its contributions to “global warming” the greatest emergency it faces.
Nor does it matter if Portland drags the rest of the state down with it.
This article originally appeared at Restoration News
Move to Idaho before it fills up.
Ore-Ida then, who needs fuel for farming equipment or food delivery anyway?
There’s been activism to split western US states to form a more rural area without Portland. Might include eastern WA as Seattle like Portland is lefty and WA taxes are increasing again.
I remember hearing a few years ago that some of the eastern, rural, counties in Washington and/or Oregon were trying to split off and become counties of Idaho.
I’ve no clue what the status of the movement is currently.
A one man band on a self fulfilling mission will impact the safety and well being of a whole State. Madness. Does this behaviour impact the US at the Federal level?
And if the electric power goes out, you have absolutely no energy left. Not even diesel to run the emergency power supply in your hospitals.
Good luck with that! Portland should take a look at Cuba, the first “Net Zero” country in the world.
Be careful what you wish far ………………….
Cuba is precisely the society that most climate alarmists are hoping for.
It’s just that most of the alarmists actually believe that they will the super rich that get to run the asylum.
“A petroleum distributor”
Who? Owner of targeted storage?
“a plan by the state”
What stage of planning? Legislature, governor, regularory body, who?
“they propose to decommission 20 percent of the storage capacity”
What is the average use rate? Is the capacity often full? How often?
“that supplies 90 percent of the fuel”
Red herring. If proposal is a 20% reduction then what does 90% have to do with it?
“has only a 3-5 day diesel supply at any given time”
See above. IF the proposed 20% storage is currently utilized 100% of the time THEN one day storage is at stake. IF the proposed 20% storage is currently utilized 0% of the time THEN no storage is at stake.
“Reducing that by 20 percent puts the state at extreme risk of fuel shortages during periods of crisis, disaster, or heightened demand.”
The article _could_be_ a warning that Oregon is doing something dumb.
The article _reads_like_ advocacy for an unnamed storage-tank-owning rent seeker.
Who owns this 20%?
Kevin:
Apparently the city of Portland thinks it owns the 20% of storage capacity. Logically, if using earthquakes as an excuse, they should also limit car & trucks to filling up to a max of 80% just in case. Maybe gas stations too? /s
IMO Portland’s actions seem like a “taking”, so the true owner, the storage facility, should be reimbursed by the city.
Because power lines are not affected by earthquakes. say goodbye to emergency services and hospitals.
And then there were the emergency services, those things that not accounted for by averages.
“In the name of seismic safety, they propose to decommission 20 percent of the storage capacity located in Portland that supplies 90 percent of the fuel for the entire state.”
How does reducing storage translate into enhanced seismic safety? Every tank farm I surveyed had dikes constructed around each tank with enough capacity for its tank to protect the area if there was a spill.
And I suppose if the fuel stored is “renewable,” the risk from earthquakes goes away? Right?
Note the 99% renewable column in the chart.
Because power line don’t break. And battery storage won’t get damaged and starts burning.
I’ll bet that that is a brand new earthquake fault line going through Oregon. If it was an old existing line that had been there since the 1900’s the smart people would have never built the fuel tank farm in that location.
there are frequent quakes off Bandon Oregon I see on usgs but that was? known and should have been accounted for when original build happened ..well one would hope they did…
The Cascadia subduction zone is a 620-mile (1,000 km) long convergent plate boundary, about 70–100 miles (110–160 kilometers) off the Pacific coast of North America, that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States.[1] It is capable of producing 9.0+ magnitude earthquakes and tsunamis that could reach 100 feet (30 m) high. The Oregon Department of Emergency Management estimates shaking would last 5–7 minutes along the coast, with strength and intensity decreasing further from the epicenter.[2] It is a very long, sloping subduction zone where the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and Gorda plates move to the east and slide below the much larger, mostly continental North American plate. The zone varies in width and lies offshore beginning near Cape Mendocino, Northern California, passing through Oregon and Washington, and terminating in Canada at about Vancouver Island in British Columbia.[3]
(wiki)
9.0+ magnitude earthquakes
“Studies by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) . . .”
At a casual glance, it sure looks like dogma.
Maybe whoever came up with that name is lysdexic.
First step remove all fuel facilities from Portland city limits. I don’t care who takes charge from there but they must understand they can also lose their authority if they mistreat their citizens.
This is what happens when you give power to stupid communists. I bet there isn’t an Engineer among the Fruitg Bats which proposed this. Sad – nice State, shame about the People who run it – as is California and anywhere else the Hippiespawn gurgle.
‘In the name of seismic safety, [the city council] propose to decommission 20 percent of the storage capacity located in Portland that supplies 90 percent of the fuel for the entire state.’
The council should decommission 100 percent of itself in the name of restoring sanity to Portland and Oregon.
Story tip!
Rockstrom of PIK has a new model based paper out. It covers all the bases!
Some of the topics covered, in alphabetical order, are… AMOC, CO2 emissions, deforestation, distributive justice, feedbacks, inequality, intergenerational justice, land use, melting Antarctic & Greenland ice, ocean acidification, ocean currents, planetary justice, permafrost, planetary boundaries, resource development, sea levels, social justice, tax justice, tipping points.
– – – – – – – – –
Charting a Transformational Course Toward a Safe and Just Future: The Earth Commission’s Contribution (By Rockstrom of PIK)
Humans are now operating well outside the planetary conditions under which social and economic development has been possible. A precondition for securing equitable access to this prosperity is to safeguard the stability of the Earth system. The situation is urgent—we need a swift and profound shift in direction—a collective transformation.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025EF006976
In driving out sensible people and sensible companies, the Seattle DSA and their mayor may be doing a good service to parts of mankind. A 9.0+ Cascadian (possibly full margin) Megathrust is about to fire, and if it does, parts of Seattle and and many parts of the 600 mi. to 700 mi. long affected areas west of I-5 may be somewhat “inundated“. Definitely don’t want it to happen; but it is apparently reaching the point of imminent. Yes, I said, “if”, “apparent”, and “may”. <– If the democrats and media at large can speculate on things outside their understanding, i.e. climate and weather in general, I certainly should be free to speculate on the timing of the arguably overdue huge Megathrust earthquake and ensuing tsunami. Last occurrence: ~9 PM on January 26, 1700, extrapolating from Japanese records, and reasonably knowing the estimated speeds of tsunamis. And, as I understand it, both global volcanic and global earthquake activity have recently become more (significantly?) prominent.
“ is about to fire“
As Charles R. might write, the word about is doing a lot of work. The time between Megathrust Cascasian events has a high variance. So about might be tomorrow or 100 years from now.
I’m 175 miles from the Pacific Coast in WA so the concern to me would be the chaotic exodus of people from the destruction zone and their search for shelter, food, and energy. If the cross-states’ transport lines go kaput that will ease matters here and make the sitution worse west of the mountains.
Portland might be able to contract with the Warm Springs Tribe and move a tank or two to Simnasho, 130 from the coast.
The tsunami mentioned can be found with a web search using:
– The Orphan Tsunami of 1700 –
I’ve been to a presentation by Brian Atwater, author of the USGS paper #1707.
If the Cascadia Fault 9.0 Big One happens in our lifetime, my wife and I here in the Middle of Nowhere, eastern Washington state expect to be hosting our Portland area and Seattle area relatives for periods lasting possibly up to six months, or possibly even longer.
Roughly 39 feet of displacement is now locked into the offshore Cascadia thrust fault.
The reason the two plates are locked so tightly together, thus allowing a lot of seismic energy to build up over a relatively short period of time — 250 to 500 years before it is released — is that the underlying plate is being buoyed up by a series of magma chambers below the plate which press it against the overlying plate above it.
Back in 2019, I had a conversation with an Army Corps of Engineers ranger at the Bonneville Dam visitors center about whether or not the dam would survive a 9.0 Big One. She said that a thorough seismic analysis has been done and that the dam will survive the quake with few or no problems.
The big issue for them is how the Army Corps of Engineers will be serving the immediate needs of thousands of refugees who will be headed east after the Portland area has been completely trashed by the earthquake.
Bonneville Dam is located at River Mile 146.1 on the Columbia River and 97 miles from the Pacific Coast. So likely safe. Still there are bridges across the Willamette and Sandy rivers that will have to withstand the event. Less likely safe.
I would not want to be driving across the Fremont Bridge in Portland when the Cascadia Fault Big One hits.
We can guess that a seismic analysis has been done for the Fremont Bridge and it will probably survive. But what about all the other bridges in the Portland area?
One thing is for certain. Most large physical structures built in Portland before 1990 are likely to be severely damaged if not destroyed outright when the 9.0 Big One hits.
I agree with the ” about to fire” comment. Growing up in SE Missouri, we were told since the ’70s that the New Madrid quake was about to fire off at any time. Still is i suppose.
And don’t forget your volcanoes like Mt Hood or Mt Adams. And as long as the Juan de Fuca, and Gorda plates slide below the North American plate there could always start a new one. These are all young volcanoes.
Guy 1: I never know what to say to a girl on the first date.
Don’t talk just show her your (ICE) Ferrari. let her do the talking. Women are good at it.
Guy 2: you should talk about Climate Change.
Guy 2 still: It’s a real ice breaker.
Good to have a name to blame when the inevitable happens.
Kyle Diesner, the environmental extremist
From my point of view, offshore, I recommend that no complaint be made and no effort be expended by anyone outside of the actual area.
Let nature take its course, let the fake danger be acted up, allow the damaging policies to be implemented and observe the catastrophic outcomes.
That will then allow the world to accumulate a database of evidence that the climate crisis prediction is in error. Talk is cheap, ruined businesses and angry voters matter greatly.
I’m trying to work out how burning wood and other plant products that produce more CO2 per watt of energy than oil is “decarbonizing” the environment.
Let us know when you finally find out, most of us have given up trying.
You need to use new math. 1+1=2… How do you feel about that?
Methinks Kyle should make a forward look for his own existence. I’d be amazed if he’d be still around in 2030 if this lunacy is implemented and not hanging from a lamp post somewhere.
This from the state where the governor just signed into law a bill that exempts ‘people of color’ from having to meet reading, writing and mathematics requirements to graduate from high school. How else can liberals say ‘people of color’ are not as smart as Asians and Caucasians? A further example of the Demonrat Party’s continued policies of Slavery; they’ve never gotten over the Civil War. They’ve just found more creative ways to enslave them.
How racist of the governor. And slavery has never been abolished it just looks different these days. Don’t pay your direct taxes and find out how long you stay ‘free’.
“People of color” has always rubbed me wrong. I am not colorless. Physics says white reflects all the colors. Ironically, pure black reflects none (i.e. colorless). As others have said, it’s just a racist device.
Seismic risks avoided by a 20% reduction in fuel volume and a switch to renewable fuel? If that is true, then they must have
1) evaluated moving the tanks to a lower risk area,
2) evaluated the difference in weight between between the two types, if any, and shown it to warrant the switch,
3) evaluated the difference in energy content of the two types since if renewables are of lesser energy content, a greater volume (and perhaps weight) will be required,
4) evaluated whether the different properties of the renewables compared to conventional fuels require changes to the fuel distribution systems…
This article must be at fault for not having summarized all such essential evaluations which are surely in the Portland city government documents, right?
100% Biofuels? Obviously Portland policy analyst Kyle Diesner, who has an environmental science (i.e., worthless) degree, is a mathematical illiterate. If the state of Oregon converted 100% of its agricultural land to biofuel production, especially using biofuels to produce the biofuels, they could not even put a dent in the motor motor fuel demand of the state. Idiot!
Math skills aside, it is much more likely that his sustainability ideology prevents him from even asking the right questions. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Out of college in 2003, he immediately took a job with the city of Portland, which is the only job he has ever had.
His is a very typical profile for today’s so-called “sustainability professionals.” They are mostly non-technically degreed, blue city leftists with little to no real world experience. They are cultists, blinded by their ideology. How do I know this? During my decades of work in higher education administration as The Texas A&M University System environmental program manager, I lurked on the Green School Listserve, a useless bunch of university busybodies from across the United States. Conservatives not welcome. Things I read on that Listserve ranged from the absurd to the hilarious. I quietly suffered through it so that I could keep track of what the radical sustainists were planning. Interestingly, I found that university sustainability offices across the country had very poor relationships with the environment, health and safety (EHS) offices, who acted as the operational arms of the universities.
In my personal lexicon, “sustainability” is a dirty word, far adrift from its original meaning before the United Nations commandeered and redefined the term.
He is probably thinking of putting solar panels on the roofs of the vehicles. That would magically make renewable fuel.
My (very) unreliable associative memory informs me that historically those are the magnitude 9 (plus) earthquakes in the PNW that ended up causing “significant” tsunamis in Japan with “preceding earthquake not felt” notes ?
[ Overly cynical media “parody/caricature” 1 … ]
Magnitude 9 earthquake levels Portland (Oregon), killing 600,000 people.
Women and minorities hardest hit.
.
[ Overly cynical media “parody/caricature” 2 … ]
Magnitude 9 earthquake levels Portland (Oregon), killing 600,000 people … but never mind that, all of the broken oil pipelines have resulted in an environmental disaster ! ! !
Build the needed storage in Bend. It’s sane over there I believe.
Connect Portland with a pipeline. Back and forth because Oregon makes zero refined products.
Then charge what you want for use of the storage. Pays for the pipe and tanks, no seismic silliness to worry about. And the sane people that live in Central Oregon get first dibs on fuel.
Better yet, do this in southern Washington, assuming they’re sane. Less pipe. You will need to increase your retail capacity because those in Portland will need to WALK somewhere for their needs.
40% of Oregon’s electricity is hydro, 10% wind (so they say), and the plan is to replace the remaining 50% with “renewables” in 3 1/2 years? Someone needs to step up to this insanity and call it out for what it is. It’s beyond laughable.