Opinion ID: 3030641
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cherry Point Marine Terminal

Text: Cherry Point is an approximately ten-mile stretch of coastline located in the Strait of Georgia in northeast Puget Sound. It has been described as “a shoreline of statewide significance,” by the Whatcom County Hearing Examiner. BP first constructed a refinery to process Alaskan North Slope crude oil in Cherry Point, south of Point Whitehorn, in 1971. The 1969 permit authorizing this project allowed BP to construct a dock to which tankers would deliver crude oil. 1 The Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) was the original party to this suit, but BP West Coast Products LLC now owns ARCO. Therefore, we use “BP” throughout. OCEAN ADVOCATES v. U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENG’RS 2501 The dock design included two platforms: one for unloading crude oil and one for loading refined product. Just before construction began, BP opted to build only the southern platform and deferred building the northern platform until production at the refinery reached capacity or the loading and unloading of tankers began to interfere with refinery operations. Physical adjustments enabled the southern platform both to unload crude oil and to load refined product so that the dock could function as it would have with both platforms. BP sought to have the 1969 permit reopened in 1977 so that it could complete the original design of the pier by building the northern platform. Because of the time lapse between granting the original permit and the request to reopen, the Corps required BP to submit a new permit application that would be subject to public notice and comment. BP withdrew the application.