Support the 4 CEI Hub Bills in the 2025 Legislative Session
Oregon's 2025 Legislative Session offers opportunities to make meaningful change to study and mitigate the dangerous impacts of the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub in NW Portland. The CEI Hub is a 6-mile area on the west side of the Willamette River where 90% of the liquid fuel in Oregon is stored, in over 600 aging storage tanks holding 350 million gallons of petroleum-based products. This industrial area was built on top of a liquefaction zone, leaving our entire region at grave risk of a massive disaster in the inevitable event of an earthquake.
There are 4 different bills in the legislature concerning this topic. You can learn more about each of these using the table below.
- CEI Hub Transition Plan - HB 3450
- Risk Bond Study - HB 2949
- Disaster Fuel Reserves - HB 2152
- Risk Mitigation Fund - HB 2151
Use this tool to send a letter to your legislators urging them to support, and even to co-sponsor, these bills!
We can’t stop an earthquake, fire, or derailment. But we can take policy measures that hold these companies accountable and reduce the overall harm and impact of these disasters. We must do what we can to protect people, the environment, and the economy.
| CEI Hub Transition Plan
(HB 3450)
Calls on OR Dept. of Energy to study and develop an “energy storage transition plan” for the CEI Hub to include: - Benchmarked short-, medium-, and long-term goals; - A risk bond study; - Engagement of industry stakeholders, technical experts, researchers, affected community members, state and local govts. agencies, and others; - May contract with the National Policy Consensus Center at Portland State University. Why this bill matters - Oregon needs a wholistic plan that moves us from bemoaning the dangers of the CEI Hub to solving the problem. - Benchmarked goals allow for easier steps to begin sooner. - Benchmarked goals can support a safe and equitable transition to renewable sources of energy by recognizing that any flammable, combustible, or toxic materials stored in the CEI Hub zone poses a danger. - The inclusive planning process will ensure that all interested and affected parties will be at the table; an essential tenet of environmental justice. | Risk Bond Study (HB 2949)
Calls on DEQ to contract for a study of the viability of a risk bond requirement for bulk fuel storage facilities in the state. Why this bill matters - Risk bonding, a form of advance insurance, requires that a business/service provider – not the consumer or taxpayers – bears financial responsibility for costs arising from a disaster, accident, or provider failure. - Risk bonding is common in many sectors, from home repair to financial services. The EPA requires risk bonds for all underground storage tanks, nationwide. Above ground tanks are left to state and local govt.s - Note: This bill is necessary if the wholistic Transition Plan bill (HB 3450) isn’t enacted. |
| Disaster Fuel Reserves
(HB 2152)
Calls on Oregon Dept. of Energy to develop and implement a “Diversity of Fueling Stations for Disaster Reserves” to include: - strategies to increase geographical distribution of disaster response fuel by region; - Prioritized list of locations for expanded or new fuel storage; - Consideration of negative community and environmental impacts; - Potential for declining reliance on fossil fuels. Why this bill matters - Emergency responders across the state will lose access to fuel if a disaster renders the CEI Hub inoperable. - Requires completion of an actionable disaster fuel security plan - building on ODOE’s Energy Security Plan (2024) which identified risks, and mapped 31 “population islands” that will be cut off from fuel re-supply in the event of a CSZ earthquake. - Requires consideration of community safety and environmental justice in selecting new or expanded disaster fuel storage sites. - Requires consideration of declining reliance on fossil fuels as Oregon transitions to other energy sources. | Risk Mitigation Fund
(HB 2151)
Expands the ways monies in the Seismic Risk Mitigation Fund may be received and used to include: - Funds may be received from the federal government; - Funds may be used for grants or financial assistance to local and state govts. businesses, and individuals for: earthquake preparedness and response, including fires and spills; - No new monies allocated to the fund. Why this bill matters - Preserves current in- and out-flows related to the Fuel Tank Seismic Stability program (established by SB 1567, 2022) - fees paid by regulated operators flow in; DEQ draws on those fees to cover the costs of FTSS regulation. - Allows for receipt and use of federal monies for fuel-related disaster preparedness and response. Sen. Merkely placed a $1 million CEI Hub earmark in the 2025 budget bill. - Recognizes that advance preparedness is as important as post-disaster response. - Can support preparedness planning by private as well as public sector groups. |
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