beyond fossil fuels

On Saturday, September 17th, the fishing vessel ALEUTIAN ISLE was successfully lifted more than 200 feet from the ocean floor, five weeks after it sank off the west side of San Juan Island. On September 20th the remaining fuel onboard the vessel was removed. Friends of the San Juans is grateful that the threat of ... read more

More good news resulting from Friends’ legal victory against fossil-fuel giant Phillips 66: The permit that was litigated has been officially withdrawn and the project to construct two new storage tanks has been canceled. Had the permit been issued, the storage tanks would have increased the Phillips 66 refinery’s operational storage capacity by nearly 10%, ... read more

Friends of the San Juans recently scored a decisive legal victory against fossil-fuel giant Phillips 66, representing an important win for critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales. On February 28th, the Washington State Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Friends in a lawsuit regarding Phillips 66’s expansion of its Ferndale, WA, refinery. In 2019 ... read more

It’s the “Stop Insuring Trans Mountain: Week of Action” (6/14-21) – targeting the insurance companies enabling the continued operation and expansion of Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline. Click here to get involved today! 

For many decades, working on behalf of and with our members, Friends of the San Juans has been diligently engaging in updates to San Juan County’s official Comprehensive Plan. Known as the “Comp Plan,” it guides how our community will look in the future. The County’s Comp Plan sets goals and priorities that guide the ... read more

Victory in the Salish Sea! Xylene will NOT be manufactured and exported from the Anacortes refinery! An additional 120 tank vessel transits will NOT impact Southern Resident orcas, our economy, our marine ecosystem, and shoreline communities with increased vessel noise and the increased risk of accidents and spills. [NOTE: not just oil spills – xylene spills ... read more

On August 29, 2019, Friends of the San Juans appealed Whatcom County’s conditional approval of a 300,000-barrel external floating roof crude oil storage tank and an 80,000-barrel external floating roof fuel oil storage tank in a tank farm located within the Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery. On behalf of Friends members and the 73 living Southern ... read more

Oil spills threaten the Salish Sea and Washington’s coast every day. These risks threaten coastal jobs, cultures and livelihoods, as well as the endangered Southern Resident orcas. This year, the House of Representatives has moved forward oil spill prevention legislation to modernize our safeguards and protect our environment, economy, and endangered orcas from the devastation ... read more

Here in Washington, the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) is a foundational tool that provides important information and opportunities for public input on projects that impact the environment. SEPA is the law that ensures that projects are evaluated and the public can have a say in the review and assessment of the project. SEPA also ... read more