No Oilport records, 1975-1992

Overview of the Collection

Creator
No Oilport (Organization : Port Angeles, Wash.)
Title
No Oilport records
Dates
1975-1992 (inclusive)
Quantity
ca. 9.21 cubic ft
Collection Number
3614
Summary
Records of No Oilport, a citizens group organized to battle petroleum companies
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Languages
English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

No Oilport was founded in 1976 to prevent construction of a supertanker port and interstate pipeline at Port Angeles. This group organized not only to battle petroleum companies, but also to oppose another environmental organization, the Coalition Against Oil Pollution (CAOP). CAOP endorsed a compromise plan to build a supertanker port and interstate pipeline at Port Angeles on the Strait of Juan de Fuca to prevent them from being built in the more ecologically sensitive Puget Sound. No Oilport members and other environmentalists rejected this compromise, arguing that Washington should not have any supertanker port and should not serve as an entry point for the transshipment of oil to inland states.

Supertankers and interstate pipelines became an issue in Washington state during the energy crisis of the 1970s. Previously, the upper Midwest of the US got much of its crude from Canada, but the Canadian government began to cut back on this supply and announced that after 1982 it would no longer export oil. To compensate for this loss, more crude had to be brought in from the Middle East, Indonesia, and the newly-exploited fields of Alaska. Puget Sound was a logical receiving point for much of this oil, where there were already refineries and where a pipeline could be built to transport crude to Minnesota. The Northern Tier Pipeline Company was the first to propose a pipeline from Washington to the Midwest, and remained at the center of debates throughout the period. However, when politicians and environmentalists blocked Northern Tier’s attempts to build a supertanker port and pipeline in Puget Sound, Northern Tier took CAOP’s advice and began making plans to build their “superport” at Port Angeles. CAOP had argued that there would be less chance for a spill in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and that a spill there would be less harmful than one in Puget Sound.

Norma Turner, a Port Angeles housewife who founded No Oilport, became aware of oil issues in 1975 when she served as chairperson for the Oilport Information Committee, a group formed to investigate the siting of a Puget Sound oilport. The information she received about oilports and supertankers disturbed her, and when environmentalists from CAOP proposed building a superport and pipeline in Port Angeles, she organized No Oilport and became its president.

Many Port Angeles citizens and environmentalists across the state opposed a Port Angeles superport. They feared it would bring too much pollution to the city, and were afraid of the effects of an oil spill on the environment and the local marine economy. In a local plebiscite, 65 percent of Port Angeles voters opposed constructing a superport in their city. Rather than accept a compromise for importing crude oil, No Oilport felt it would be best for Washington not to serve as the entry point for any transshipment of oil. Members of No Oilport were not alone in their opposition to CAOP’s compromise plan. Not only did many environmentalists oppose a superport in Port Angeles, but they also feared that a pipeline extending across the state would be hazardous. In 1977, the Washington Environmental Council passed a resolution opposing any transshipment of oil through Washington state. In 1978, the Seattle Audubon Society withdrew its membership in CAOP, and the Coalition’s lobbyist resigned in protest in 1979. No Oilport and these other environmentalists opposed all transshipment of oil across Washington state.

CAOP had asked for a pipeline to be built around Puget Sound, but in 1980 the Coalition endorsed Northern Tier’s final plan to build a superport in Port Angeles with a pipeline running through Puget Sound. However, No Oilport, along with seven other environmental organizations, nine Indian tribes, and two local governments, tried to block the plan through litigation. Finally, in 1981, the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council sided with No Oilport and recommended that Governor John Spellman reject the company’s application. Despite pressure from the Reagan administration and many national politicians, Spellman vetoed the application. As of 1997, no supertanker port or major interstate pipeline has been built in Washington state.

No Oilport disbanded in 1984.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Consult the scope and content information for each of the accessions listed below.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Consult the restrictions governing reproduction and use for each of the accessions listed below.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Preservation Note

Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

 

Accession No. 3614-001: No Oilport records, 1975-1984Return to Top

9' linear.

Scope and Content: Correspondence, minutes, reports, legal documents, clippings, subject series, 1975-1984.

Essentially files of Norma Turner, president of the organization.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Acquisition Info: Homer Frazier, 1984-11-15

Description
No Oilport records

Accession No. 3614-002: No Oilport records, 1982-1992Return to Top

.21 cu. ft. (1 box); 13 sound cassettes

Scope and Content: Tape recordings, apparently of community meetings and of other public presentations about oil transport on Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. These were kept by Homer Frazier, a leader of No Oilport; ca. 1982-1992.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.

Acquisition Info: Steve Witt, 2003-11-07

Description
No Oilport records

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Petroleum shipping terminals--Environmental aspects--Washington (State)--Port Angeles
  • Petroleum shipping terminals--Washington (State)--Port Angeles
  • Petroleum--Transportation--Juan de Fuca, Strait of (B.C. and Wash.)
  • Petroleum--Transportation--Washington (State)--Puget Sound
  • Transshipment--Environmental aspects--Washington (State)--Port Angeles

Personal Names

  • Frazier, Homer--Correspondence
  • Turner, Norma, of Port Angeles, Wash

Corporate Names

  • Coalition Against Oil Pollution (Wash.)
  • Northern Tier Pipeline Company

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names
    • No Oilport (Organization : Port Angeles, Wash.) (creator)

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)