Race to build on Columbia River could block Pacific oil route

Vancouver, Washington

ENVIRONMENTAL passions, which run hot in the US northwest over everything from salmon to recycling, generally get couched in the negative: Don't fish too much, don't put those chemicals up the smokestack, don't build in that sensitive area.

But here in this US city in Washington state, some environmental groups are quietly pushing a builder to move even faster with a US$1.3 billion real estate project along the Columbia River that includes office buildings, shops and towers with 3,300 apartments.

The reason is oil.

Three kilometres west of the 13-hectare project, called the Waterfront, one of the biggest proposed oil terminals in the country is going through an environmental review, with plans to transfer North Dakota crude from rail cars to barges. Up to four trains, carrying 360,000 bar…