Description: Challenge to Portland zoning amendments restricting fossil fuel terminals.
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Western States Petroleum Association v. City of Portland
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 10/15/2018 Order Application for extension granted. Western States Petroleum Association Expected to File Certiorari Petition Seeking Review of Oregon Court’s Decision Upholding Portland’s Fossil Fuel Terminal Ban. Chief Justice John Roberts granted an application by the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) to extend the deadline for filing a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of an Oregon appellate court’s determination that the City of Portland’s ban on new and expanded fossil fuel terminals did not violate the dormant Commerce Clause. The Oregon Court of Appeals entered its judgment on January 4, 2018, and the Oregon Supreme Court declined to review the ruling on July 26, 2018. WSPA must file its petition by December 21, 2018. 10/12/2018 Application Download Application for extension filed. The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) filed an application to Chief Justice John Roberts to extend the deadline for filing a petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of an Oregon appellate court’s determination that the City of Portland’s ban on new and expanded fossil fuel terminals did not violate the dormant Commerce Clause. WSPA argued that an extension of the deadline was warranted because counsel retained to prepare the petition needed time to familiarize themselves with the case and because of the importance of the issues raised. The application asserted that the Oregon appellate court’s decision was at odds with Supreme Court precedent holding that states and localities may not burden interstate commerce in a way that favors in-state interests. WSPA also contended that the case had “significant practical import” because of Portland’s “key location near important in-land transportation routes.” -
Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council v. City of Portland
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 01/04/2018 Opinion Download Appellate court reversed Land Use Board of Appeals' conclusion that amendments violated dormant Commerce Clause. Oregon Appellate Court Said Portland Restrictions on Fossil Fuel Terminals Did Not Violate Dormant Commerce Clause. The Oregon Court of Appeals reversed the Land Use Board of Appeals’ (LUBA’s) conclusion that the City of Portland’s zoning amendments banning new and expanded fossil fuel terminals violated the dormant Commerce Clause. The court concluded that the City’s alleged discrimination against out-of-state producers and refiners of fossil fuels and favoring in-state end users of fossil fuels did not constitute discrimination under the dormant Commerce Clause because the alleged discrimination was not between “substantially similar” out-of-state and in-state entities. The court also concluded that the zoning amendments did not bar out-of-state commerce from entering or operating within the state and did not discriminate against out-of-state consumers. In addition, the court found that the amendments survived the Pike balancing test because the business trade groups had not demonstrated the claimed burdens on interstate commerce were clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits. The court also reversed a LUBA finding that the ordinance violated one statewide planning goal but upheld a LUBA finding that the ordinance violated a different statewide planning goal. -
Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council v. City of Portland
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 07/19/2017 Opinion and Order Download Decision approving ordinance reversed. Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals Reversed Portland’s Ban on New and Expanded Fossil Fuel Terminals. The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (Board) found that amendments to the City of Portland, Oregon, zoning ordinance prohibiting new bulk fossil fuel terminal and expansion of existing terminals violated the dormant Commerce Clause. The Board therefore reversed the amendments. The Board concluded the amendments were discriminatory in practical effect because, though facially neutral regarding the origin and destination of fossil fuels, the amendments were intended to preclude construction of new or expanded terminals that would serve interstate and international markets. The Board further found that the City had failed to demonstrate that the amendments served legitimate local interests—including a desire to reduce Portland’s contribution to climate change—that could not adequately be served by reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives. The Board said the City had identified nothing in the amendments directed at accomplishing the goal of reducing local contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change and said that “we do not believe the city can, consistent with the dormant Commerce Clause, deliberately attempt to slow or obstruct the flow of fossil fuels from other states to consumers in other states or countries with the apparent goal or reducing generation of greenhouse gases elsewhere in the world, and justify that attempt as a legitimate local interest.” The Board also considered whether the amendments, even if deemed nondiscriminatory, could meet the Pike balancing test under the dormant Commerce Clause and concluded that they could not, citing local benefits that were “attenuated at best” and the potentially significant burdens on national and international markets in fossil fuels. The Board also sustained some challenges to the amendments based on local, regional, and state standards. 01/25/2017 Motion Download Motion to intervene filed. Environmental and public health groups moved to intervene on the City’s behalf. 01/04/2017 Notice of Intent Download Notice of intent to appeal filed. Parties Said They Would Appeal Portland’s Restrictions on Fossil Fuel Terminals. The Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council, the Portland Business Alliance, and the Western States Petroleum Association filed notice of their intent to appeal the City of Portland’s enactment of an ordinance directing adoption of zoning amendments that prohibited new bulk fossil fuel terminals and limited the expansion of existing terminals. The notice was filed in the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. In the ordinance, the City found that extraction and combustion of fossil fuels were significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions and major contributors to climate change and pollution, and that the amendments were consistent with local and statewide planning goals and also with local and statewide climate change and public safety objectives.