The oil industry has big plans for Northwest waters. Officials in Washington are deciding whether to permit huge new rail-to-vessel facilities, while Canadian regulators weigh a massive tar sands pipeline pointed at the Salish Sea. If they are built, the industry’s plans would mean unprecedented growth in crude oil shipped by both land and sea.

In this series, “The Risk of Northwest Oil Spills,” Sightline explains the facts about the proposals, sifts through the data on oil spills, and examines the risks to the Northwest’s most important waterways.

For broader analysis of the oil-by-rail industry in the Northwest, see the series “The Northwest’s Pipeline on Rails.”

For analysis of the traffic impacts of oil and coal trains in communities throughout the Northwest, see the series “The Wrong Side of the Tracks.”