The Port of Tacoma and the City of Tacoma promised to work together, along with citizens, regarding land use at the Port. This promise was floated out during the methanol debacle in the spring of 2016. The elected officials failed to follow up and since, the POT has yet to do anything with the property once leased by the foreign corporation that intended (and many believe still do) to build the largest methanol refinery in the world, in the heart of Tacoma, at the taxpayer cleaned up Kaiser Aluminum location.

The citizens showed up in mass, like never before in Tacoma’s history. In the shadow of Seattle, Tacoma came alive and filled meeting rooms and even the convention center until public pressure burst the balloon on the ill-fated plan for a highly toxic and polluting refinery the electeds wanted.

Since last April, nearly a year later, there has been not one single move forward for land use planning at the POT.

However, the City and POT are working covertly to bring in more dirty industries that will suck dry Tacoma’s precious fresh water supply while only worsening public health in our area. Methanol, LNG, coal trains, gravel pits – where are the sustainable energy businesses, or at the very least ones that are known to be less polluting?

Cancer rates here high enough already.

It is time for the POT, the City and the people work together about the best use for all that vacant land at the Port.