Overview
Puget Sound Energy operates Puget LNG, a liquefied natural gas facility on Port of Tacoma property. It provides a cleaner alternative, relative to traditional maritime fuels, for TOTE Maritime Alaska vessels and can also provide residential and commercial customers with natural gas reserves to maintain dependable service on the coldest days of the year. The facility does not support LNG exports, which are prohibited under the lease.
While LNG is not a perfect solution, it represents a proven step toward cleaner maritime operations. The Port of Tacoma envisions a future when the industry operates efficiently on fossil fuel-free power, but that reality is not yet achievable. LNG is a bridge fuel that is increasingly used in the maritime industry.
PSE’s LNG facility was commissioned in 2022 after extensive environmental review and permitting.
Air Quality
Most cargo ships today run on diesel or bunker fuel. According to the 2021 Puget Sound Maritime Air Emissions Inventory, ship-related emissions of diesel particulate matter have declined by 91% since 2005, but they still account for 38 percent of the maritime-related diesel particulate matter emissions in our region. The largest driver of these emission reductions was the switch to lower sulfur fuels, as required by the North American Emissions Control Area.
The 2020 Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy established the vision of phasing out seaport related emissions activities by 2050, which includes the ocean-going vessels calling Tacoma and Seattle. Achieving this vision will require a transition to lower emitting alternative marine fuels and minimizing “upstream” emissions from fuel production and transport.
Use of LNG significantly reduces harmful air pollutant emissions: Sulphur oxides (SOx) by greater than 99 percent, diesel particulate matter by more than 90 percent, and nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide (NOx) by 90 percent, relative to conventional marine fuels. LNG powered vessels are much cleaner than required to comply with the North America Emissions Control Area standards.
While fossil LNG is not a net zero carbon fuel, it is generally expected to reduce “well to wake” greenhouse gas emissions by about 18%, based on default emission rates in the International Maritime Organization’s Zero/Net Zero Framework. While actual emissions may vary for each individual case depending on a number of factors, including upstream leakage of natural gas during extraction and delivery, LNG is expected to be lower emitting than conventional ship fuels.
Furthermore, if renewable natural gas (i.e. RNG, bio-LNG, or e-LNG) is available, LNG vessels provide a pathway to deeper decarbonization. Renewable natural gas is typically captured from biological processes, like wastewater treatment or dairy digesters (bio-LNG) or produced synthetically using renewably generated hydrogen and waste carbon (e-LNG). While there are hurdles to making RNG available broadly for vessel fueling today, it holds promise as a mechanism to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from LNG vessels in the future.
The Port of Tacoma is in the process of updating its 2026-2030 Clean Air Implementation Plan, which is guided by the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, a regional effort between the Ports of Tacoma, Seattle, Northwest Seaport Alliance and Vancouver-Frasier Port Authority in British Columbia. Each of the ports has its own implementation plan.
The Ports of Tacoma and Seattle, along with The Northwest Seaport Alliance, are also working with partners in Korea to develop a trans-Pacific green shipping corridor using alternative fuels. These would include zero or near-zero emission fuels beyond the use of LNG or RNG.
Safety
To meet federal standards, the LNG facility was designed and built to ensure that a spill or fire has no offsite impacts. Spill and fire scenarios in the environmental review used methodologies and computational models prescribed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which are also approved for similar facilities. The modeling demonstrates that exclusion zones defined by federal regulation 49 CFR. § 193.2059 and, by reference, NFPA 59A, remain within the site boundaries.
Federal seismic requirements for Puget Sound Energy’s tank design and construction exceed those for bridges and overpasses. The facility is built to withstand an earthquake expected every 2,450 years without any loss of LNG‒compared to bridges and overpasses, which are designed for 1,000-year events.
The facility sits above 2,013 three-foot-diameter concrete columns, each poured to a depth of 80 to 100 feet, which stabilizes the soil during an earthquake. The tank itself rests on 88 foundation isolators that minimize shaking during seismic events.
PSE committed funding to help the Tacoma Fire Department reopen a fire station on the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula before the LNG facility became operational. It also supported the refurbishment of Taylor Way. This fire station added to those already located in Northeast Tacoma and Fife, enhancing safety for the entire community.