Whatcom County

Consider the $ource

by Sandy Robson

Public records reveal that some of the local elected officials in Whatcom County, Washington, continue to put SSA Marine Inc. in the driver’s seat, working directly with the company’s hired public relations and advertising consultants to promote SSA Marine’s proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT); a coal export terminal, which would store, handle, and ship 48 million metric tons of coal annually at Cherry Point, located just outside the city limits of Ferndale, in Whatcom County. (more…)

Cherry Point industries have not endorsed GPT

(This commentary was originally published in The Northern Light, Letters to the Editor, December 11-17 edition)

Commentary by Paula Rotundi

There are three existing Cherry Point businesses – BP Refinery, Alcoa-Intalco Works and Conoco-Phillips – and none of them has endorsed the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT). The GPT proposal gives our existing Cherry Point industries significant reasons for concern. For them, GPT would be a horrific neighbor. (more…)

Right Here in Whatcom County: Trouble With a Capital “T,” Rhymes with “D,” Stands for Deindustrialize

by Sandy Robson

NWJA Co-Chair Brad Owens at October 27, 2012 GPT EIS scoping hearing in Bellingham

NWJA Co-Chair Brad Owens at October 27, 2012 GPT EIS scoping hearing in Bellingham

On September 13, 2014, about seven weeks before the November 2014 Whatcom County elections, KGMI’s Saturday Morning Live radio show host Kris Halterman interviewed Brad Owens, Co-Chair of the Northwest Jobs Alliance (NWJA), which was created in 2011 specifically to promote the Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT) project. The topic of the interview was Cherry Point industries. Owens told Halterman that NWJA’s focus has changed from focusing on the GPT project, to the Cherry Point industrial area, as Owens claimed: “In the past few months we have come to know that there’s a very organized, what I would view as an attack on our job base at Cherry Point.” (more…)

A Million Plus for Ferndale Schools from GPT: Now You See It, Now You Don’t

by Sandy Robson

On October 22, 2012, during the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) scoping period for Gateway Pacific Terminal, Ferndale School District Superintendent Linda Quinn sent an email to the Ferndale School Board summarizing a meeting she had earlier that day with SSA Marine’s public relations consultant for the GPT project, Craig Cole, along with three others who joined the meeting. (more…)

Vote this November as if your life depended on it

Commentary by Christine Westland

I am now a senior, but looking at photos of my grandfather as a young boy I am startled to realize how different his day-to-day life was from mine, just 100 years ago.

Earth’s population was about 1.8 billion, and the Industrial Age was young. Earth’s population is now almost 8 billion, and we have gobbled up most naturally existing liquid oil, but continue to dig for every last drop. Blind to healthier options, we continue to overuse fossil fuels. We are clear cutting forests, blowing up mountains, digging huge holes, leaving behind toxic sludge, dumping garbage into the ocean and depleting soil with industrial agriculture. (more…)

Cole’s Op-Ed Sugar-Coats GPT Project

Commentary by Christine Westland

On August 15th, an op-ed by Craig Cole was published in the Bellingham Herald, giving a “Mary Poppins” version of the intentions and actions of SSA Marine/Pacific International Terminals (PIT) for the Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT) at Cherry Point. According to Cole, it was “human error” in 2011, when PIT accessed the Cherry Point wetlands, clearing nine acres, degrading a Native American archaeological site, and filling in 1.2 acres of wetlands while taking borings on that land without a proper permit. Professional companies who behave legally and ethically know what they are doing don’t make these kind of mistakes. For these violations, SSA Marine-owned Pacific International Terminals was sued and paid $1.6 million in fines and penalties. These actions by PIT were deceptive and show a blatant disregard and lack of respect for the Lummi Nation and Cherry Point, which was the first archaeological site to be placed on the Washington State Register of Historic Places. (more…)