This bill summary was last updated January 29, 2025.
Portland’s Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) hub is located along a 6 mile stretch of the Willamette River, northwest of downtown. The CEI hub is a storage site for approximately 90% of Oregon’s liquid petroleum and biofuels, about 360 million gallons in all, but it is located on unstable soil and represents a major hazard in case of a large earthquake.
Neighbors of the CEI hub have expressed concern that, in the event of an earthquake resulting in potentially catastrophic damages, the owner-operators of the facilities may not fulfill their responsibilities to clean up the mess.
This bill directs Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to contract with independent third party experts to study the possibility that CEI owner-operators could be required to obtain insurance, surety bonds, or other financial instruments that would provide assurance that the costs associated with catastrophic spills of stored fuels could be met.
The bill requires DEQ to submit a report on this matter to the legislature, by September 15, 2026.