Van Ness Feldman represents Imperium Renewables, owner and operator of the nation’s largest biofuels processing facility, in obtaining and defending SEPA and Shoreline Management Act approvals for expansion of its rail-marine vessel terminal and transfer facility at the Port of Grays Harbor, Washington.  

The firm negotiated SEPA mitigation and shoreline substantial development permits and defended the project in appeals before the Washington State Shoreline Hearings Boards. The project has the potential to become one of the first “crude by rail” terminal expansion projects in the Pacific Northwest and is receiving national attention in overarching national policy debate regarding fossil fuel expansion, the expansion of crude oil production from the Bakken resource in North Dakota, and the pressure to expand both oil pipeline and rail shipment of rapidly increasing U.S. production of crude oil to existing refineries throughout the U.S.