Fossil fuel opponents rallied through a rainy afternoon on the porch of the Slocum House in Esther Short Park on Monday, celebrating Gov. Jay Inslee’s decision to reject Vancouver Energy’s proposal to build the nation’s largest crude-by-rail oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver.

“The rain’s not going to stop us, but we are going to stop an oil terminal,” Vancouver City Councilor Bart Hansen told a small but enthusiastic audience. “Thank you for doing what you do. This proves nothing is bigger than the people who want to be a part of it — in this case, it’s the people who want to stop it.”

The rally was set up just hours after Inslee sent a letter to the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council containing his decision to reject the proposed terminal.

“We did our due diligence in reviewing the facility and the (EFSEC) record. We found it extremely thorough,” Inslee told The Columbian. “It examined in detail and great depth the issues we faced. … (This decision) is not one that required original research.”

In his letter to EFSEC explaining his decision, Inslee described the application as “unprecedented both in its scale and the scope of issues it raised.” He said that he was persuaded by the panel’s reasoning and agreed with its recommendation to deny the project.