WASHINGTON — Somewhere, “Maggie”‘ is smiling.
The late Sen. Warren Magnuson’s 1977 limit on the number of oil tankers in Puget Sound was preserved Thursday in an amendment to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Gasoline Security for America Act.
Destined for a vote on the House floor today, the bill no longer overturns Magnuson’s provision, slipped almost unnoticed into the Marine Mammal Protection Act some 28 years ago.
The ban enraged then Gov. Dixy Lee Ray, and the resulting tiff among Democrats cost her a chance at a second term.
Bipartisan effort
Washington Congressmen Norm Dicks, D-Belfair; Dave Reichert, R-Bellevue; and Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge, combined to strike the section that would have opened Puget Sound to more tankers.
Dicks’ 6th Congressional District includes Jefferson and Clallam counties.
The controversial section was written by U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., which has no oil tanker facilitates. It was backed by British Petroleum, which owns the refinery at Cherry Point near Bellingham.
The proposal would have changed key portions of the Magnuson Amendment, which limits expansion of oil refineries and the number of oil tankers entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca headed to Puget Sound.
The amended bill is expected to pass the House.
“It is encouraging that the chairman of the Commerce Committee and the members of the Rules Committee understood the importance of this issue to Puget Sound area,” Dicks said Wednesday.
“Since the provision had little impact on the ability to increase refining capacity in our state, we were concerned that it should not set a future precedent.
“This is a great victory for our delegation.”