Can a 32-Acre Mixed-Use Development Block an Oil-By-Rail Facility in Time?

According to Kirk Johnson, "here in southern Washington, some environmental groups are quietly pushing a builder to move even faster with a $1.3 billion real estate project along the Columbia River that includes office buildings, shops and towers with 3,300 apartments."

The strange bedfellows of environmentalists and development interests have teamed up because "[two] miles west of the 32-acre project, called the Waterfront, one of the biggest proposed oil terminals in the country is going through an environmental review, with plans to transfer North Dakota crude from rail cars to barges."

"The result is a sort of race to the crossing: If the Waterfront can get its bricks and mortar in the ground before the terminal is approved — possibly late next year, with litigation likely to follow — more people would be living and working near the oil-train line. Compounding what opponents, led by the city, say are the dangers of spills or derailments, would make the terminal’s path to approval steeper."

The project goes into a lot more detail about the economic case made by each side as well as development proposals for both The Waterfront and the oil terminal.