The state panel tasked with evaluating the proposed Vancouver Energy oil terminal said the project has five significant unavoidable impacts that cannot be fully mitigated if it were to be built.

The details came during a special meeting held in Olympia when the Washington State Energy Site Evaluation Council announced it had completed the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement.

The moment marked a significant milestone in the project’s evaluation, which has spanned more than four years.

EFSEC staff said these significant, unavoidable impacts would occur should the terminal be built:

• Socioeconomic impacts to Vancouver’s Fruit Valley neighborhood.

• Fire and medical service response delays due to increased rail traffic.

• Increased accidents and deaths in the rail corridor as a result of increased train traffic.

• Potential impacts to the dock and transfer pipeline, which could result in a spill, due to liquefaction of some soils in the event of a large earthquake such as the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.