At least 1,200 people are expected to mass at March Point in Anacortes May 13-15 to protest U.S. reliance on fossil fuels, tying up half the campsites at Deception Pass State Park and jeopardizing a vital Puget Sound Energy electrical substation, Eric Brooks, the county’s deputy emergency-management director, told the Council of Governments last week.
Protest group Break Free PNW plans to “put our bodies on the line to stop the fossil-fuel economy and change history” at that event, according to its website. “Hundreds of people will risk arrest by engaging in peaceful civil disobedience.”
The Shell and Tesoro refineries at March Point are responsible for 47 percent of all the gasoline and diesel consumed in the Northwest, the group said.
The protesters reserved 152 of the 320 campsites at the Deception Pass State Park campground and plan to use that area as one of their staging areas, said Jack Hartt, the park’s manager.
Hartt said he had “high anxiety” about the event until he met face-to-face with organizers last week for two hours.
“That high anxiety dropped to just another concern after we spoke,” he said. “We get large groups in here all the time. My concern is that the park be protected and that visitors have the experience they’re seeking, and they assured me that’s what they want as well.”
Just the same, Hartt said, back-up plans are in place, including bringing in extra staff, working longer shifts and coordinating with law enforcement.
Numerous homeowners in Anacortes and on Whidbey have offered protestors beds, sofas and floor space, Brooks said. Some protestors will arrive at the protest site by water, on kayaks, while others will arrive by land to demonstrate outside the refineries’ gates.
Puget Sound Energy has hired off-duty Washington State Patrol officers to guard its substation, said Dom Amor, a PSE local-government affairs manager. Skagit County will be setting up its emergency operations center, but Island County will not, Brooks said.
Brooks said the county has been in touch with the Skagit County Department of Emergency Management, the Washington State Patrol, Anacortes Police Department and Island County Sheriff’s Office.
“This group is very well organized and well trained,” he said. “They have identified a heron breeding ground in the area to be sure it isn’t jeopardized, and they support workers’ jobs, but their point is to create a disturbance.”
Other groups may try to piggyback on the protest with their own concerns and tactics, he added.
Coupeville will be hosting its 25th annual Penn Cove Water Festival that weekend, and the protest “could very well cause congestion,” said Island County Sheriff Mark Brown.
“I just hope people can get their point across without violence or criminal activity.”
To track protest activities, visit breakfreepnw.org, join the @breakfreePNW Twitter feed or text @breakfree to 23559 during the protest days.
