Opinion ID: 3030641
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: BP’s Request for a Permit Extension

Text: BP requested a one-year extension to its 1996 permit in March 2000 to allow it time to complete the dock construction. The original permit was set to expire on March 1, 2001, and BP wished to begin construction in June 2000 and finish by late 2001. The Corps decided that while it would wait to grant BP the one-year extension pending FWS consultation on OCEAN ADVOCATES v. U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENG’RS 2505 whether the project would affect newly listed threatened species, it would not issue a public notice or accept public comments on the permit extension. The WSDNR contacted the Corps about the permit extension. It expressed concern that its earlier report (the SLERA) was very narrowly focused on the pier extension alone and did not consider the cumulative effects of multiple projects on the Cherry Point region. While the WSDNR did not specifically oppose the extension, it noted that circumstances had changed since the Corps originally granted BP the permit, including the listing of the Puget Sound Chinook salmon and bull trout under the Endangered Species Act. The WSDNR communicated its continued concern about the potential cumulative impacts on the Cherry Point habitat for spawning herring and juvenile Chinook. The Corps granted BP the permit extension on June 29, 2000. The Corps adopted BP’s “reasonable” interpretation of the Magnuson Amendment. Because the pier construction would not increase the refinery’s capability to offload crude oil tankers, the Corps determined that the pier extension complied with the Magnuson Amendment. The Corps also rejected OA’s claim that devoting the pier extension exclusively to refined oil would free the existing portion of the dock to unload more crude oil, effectively increasing the volume of crude oil capable of being handled at the BP facility. The Corps agreed with BP that increased tanker traffic depends not on the remodeling of the refinery but exclusively on market forces. The Corps, relying on information primarily from BP, found that the new platform would not result in adverse cumulative impacts on natural resources in the Cherry Point area. The Corps again concluded that an EIS was not essential to determining the cumulative impacts, if any, of the project.