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Refinery must be challenged to protect Olympic National Park
Every time I leave home and drive the short distance to Olympic National Park, I am reminded of the stunning beauty of this very special wild place. There’s nowhere like it, and for a writer and naturalist like myself, there’s no better place to be. But if British Petroleum (BP) has its way, this wild place will never be the same.
I’ve lived in the Sequim foothills for more than 25 years but have been an Olympic Peninsula resident since the early 1970s. My home is just a few miles from trailheads that lead into the park, and, on a clear day, I am lucky to admire the stunning Olympic Peaks close by.
Much of my time outdoors is spent observing: the health of the forests, the wonderful diversity of plant and animal life, and the wide-ranging effects of small changes in the dynamic ecosystem. As a naturalist, I pay particular attention to lichen. Lichens are among the most subtle but significant plant species in Olympic National Park. They are acutely and often negatively affected by even small changes in air quality, temperature, or rainfall, all of which are becoming increasingly unpredictable due to climate change and continuing fossil fuel development in the surrounding region.
The oil refineries of northern Puget Sound already contribute pollutants that dirty the air, cause hazy skies in Olympic National Park, and amplify the harmful effects of climate change on the ecology of the Peninsula and on surrounding communities. In this sensitive environment, it is irresponsible to expand any one of these existing refineries, yet, Washington State Department of Ecology has granted permission for BP to do just that.
From the northern and eastern Peninsula, the beautiful vistas of the Cascade Range are already obstructed by haze on days with particularly bad air quality. The National Park Service anticipates that BP’s expansion at the Cherry Point facility will further degrade air quality, making bad air days more likely and more severe. Pollutants released by these refineries are absorbed by the Park’s lichens, and then are distributed throughout the forest ecosystem.
I applaud National Parks Conservation Association for challenging the permit for BP’s expanded Cherry Point refinery to process dirty tar sands crude oil. Requiring more stringent pollutant controls would address many of the anticipated adverse effects and mitigate the increased air pollution expected from BP’s refining of dirtier crude. BP could choose to do the right thing and include better pollution controls on the Cherry Point expansion project – in fact, they already have such modern controls on other similar facilities. Surely our part of the world deserves no less.
Now is not the time to turn a blind eye to the increasingly harmful effects of dirty air and climate change spurred on by the pollutants released by these refineries. It is up to us and organizations like National Parks Conservation Association to fight for clean air protections. Haze pollution is a way of life for folks in most cities, but it shouldn’t be a way of life for places as wild and wonderful as Olympic National Park.
National parks like Olympic provide an opportunity to stop, take a breath, and drink in the beauty and wonder of our earth. Let's not allow this planetary treasure to become further and needlessly degraded.
Tim McNulty is an environmental activist and author of "Olympic National Park, A Natural History," just released in its fourth edition by the University of Washington Press. He lives in Sequim.