Seattle, WA, August 27, 2015

Today, a group of Seattle-area environmental groups and the Sierra Club appealed a King County Superior Court Judge’s July ruling which said the Port of Seattle did not need to conduct an environmental review before allowing the Terminal 5 at the Port of Seattle to be used as a home port by Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling fleet. Additionally, the appeal challenges the Superior Court’s decision that turning Terminal 5 into a homeport for Shell’s Arctic drilling rigs was the same use as the previous container shipping terminal.

Earthjustice filed the appeal on behalf of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Washington Environmental Council, the Sierra Club and Seattle Audubon to the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division I.

“The Port of Seattle is supposed to be accountable to the public, but it has continually shut the public out of this process. The Port has circumvented the permitting and environmental review processes it is supposed to follow,” said Earthjustice Staff Attorney Patti Goldman.

“Our waterways are not for sale to the highest bidder. If the Shell drilling rig and its support vessels are allowed to return to Seattle without environmental review, the costs incurred by the public include a significant loss of public use of the waterway, an increased risk to Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River from spills and in-water repairs, as well as a loss of public accountability and trust,” said Chris Wilke, Executive Director and Puget Soundkeeper of Puget Soundkeeper Alliance.

“We are compelled to resort to this appeal because of our ongoing concern for the health of Puget Sound. The lack of public process and environmental review by the Port creates concern that grave harm will come to the birds, whales, and other marine life in our waters from these oil industry vessels. We have no choice but to continue speaking for the wildlife that cannot speak for itself,” said Brian Windrope, Executive Director of Seattle Audubon.