South Sound News

Groups to push back against plans for Tacoma gas plant

Photo: Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

The fight over fracking is coming to Olympia Wednesday when the public plans to push back against plans for a gas plant in Tacoma.

Governor Inslee used to support the plant, but he announced earlier this month that he would oppose the liquefied natural gas plant, and he's apparently not alone in the fight.

The Puget Sound Energy “listening session” on the plant is slated for 4:30 p.m., and groups such as the Sierra Club are calling on the public to rally and pack the room to voice opposition to the 8-million-gallon storage plant.

The $275 million plant is being built on the Tacoma tide flats and has been called one of the most controversial projects at the port, because of fracking, the process that uses liquid  -- usually water -- injected at high pressure into subterranean areas to force openings to get gas or liquid.

Opponents say the process is damaging the environment and believe fracked gas will be stored at the plant.

The Puyallup Tribe also wants to halt the plan, saying it would pose a hazard to its protected homelands, but PSE says it has followed all the necessary steps in its environmental review.

A potential rally could happen at 4 p.m. before the 4:30 p.m. meeting at the Bellevue Hilton.

For more information about the project, follow this link.  http://www.pscleanair.org/460/Current-Permitting-Projects