Retained as expert witnesses by Washington State Office of the Attorney General (AGO) in the matter of Lighthouse Resources, Inc., et al. v. Jay Inslee, et al. before the US District Court (West). Prepared written expert testimony Expert Report on Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview/Lighthouse and the Expert Rebuttal Report on Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview/Lighthouse. The reports analyze the burden to the US coal industry if the Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview (Millennium) were not built.
Valero Crude by Rail Project, Benicia, California
TGG was retained by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 2013 to provide an expert report on a proposed crude-by-rail (CBR) terminal project at a Valero refinery in Benicia, California. In July 2013, TGG filed Comments on Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) Valero Crude by Rail Project Benicia, California with the City of Benicia. In our report, TGG provided a market analysis of the project. The report was included as an attachment to NRDC's Comments on Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Valero Crude by Rail Project, filed with the City of Benicia on July 1, 2013.
Tesoro Savage Vancouver Energy Distribution Terminal
In January 2018, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee rejected the Vancouver Energy Distribution Terminal (VEDT), the largest proposed crude-by-rail terminal in the US – and the largest proposed oil terminal on the West Coast. In response to the Governor’s decision, Tesoro Savage (the project applicant) terminated all development activities and cancelled the project in February 2018.
Economics of Transporting Tar Sands Crudes in Quebec
In June 2014, TGG, in collaboration with Équiterre and Greenpeace Canada, released a report refuting the oil industry's claims regarding the economic benefits for Quebec of moving and refining tar sands crudes. The report, entitled Economics of Transporting and Processing Tar Sands Crudes in Quebec, demonstrated that the benefits for Quebec would be insignificant while the costs and risks were very high. TGG also concluded that a major pipeline accident could be catastrophic with billions of dollars in damages and loss of human life.
Analysis of the Potential Costs of Accidents/Spills Related to Crude by Rail
In November 2013, TGG prepared an expert report entitled Analysis of the Potential Costs of Accidents/Spills Related to Crude by Rail for Oil Change International (OCI). The report demonstrates that the economic costs of crude by rail accidents can be very large and concludes that a major crude by rail (CBR) unit train accident/spill could cost $1 billion or more for a single event. The expert report was incorporated into Comments filed by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Sierra Club and OCI (on behalf of a numerous other environmental and community groups). The Comments were filed in December 2013 before The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), U.S. Department Of Transportation (DOT) as part of the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Hazardous Materials: Rail Petitions and Recommendations To Improve the Safety of Railroad Tank Car Transportation.