Kshama Sawant wants to impose Seattle’s will on Tacoma

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant doesn’t want Puget Sound Energy to build a liquefied natural gas facility in Tacoma.

The city’s vocal Socialist proposed a resolution that would urge the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to reject Puget Sound Energy’s permit application to build the facility. Her argument: Natural gas emits carbon dioxide that “contributes to climate change when used as a fuel source, and leaks along the natural gas supply chain emit methane, a gas with 86 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.”

She’s not alone. Environmental activists and the Puyallup Tribe have been fighting the project for years. Last week, The News Tribune reports, the Clean Air Agency said it will hire someone to analyze the cycle of emissions from the facility.

The facility would be built at the Port of Tacoma and would have the capabilities of producing more than 200,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas per day for customers, including TOTE Maritime Alaska vessels.

Puget Sound Energy argues it is a cleaner alternative to diesel or bunker fuel, reducing emissions. It would also, according to PSE, have “no adverse impact on groundwater or Commencement Bay.”

“LNG is not a perfect solution, but it’s a proven step in the right direction,” PSE wrote in a blog justifying the facility.

An op-ed from 2017 argues that the $300 million facility would provide cleaner, safer fuel; it would also create a few hundred construction jobs and help provide cheaper gas to residents.

There are a few red marks against the project already. PSE’s “failure to obtain a notice of construction approval prior to construction, installation, establishment or modification of a source.” The agency is currently considering the application to build and operate.

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