It's going to be a hot summer

In politics that is. We have the on-going battle over the plan to build a bulk carrier terminal at Cherry Point to ship coal that will come by rail from the Powder River Basin in Colorado and Wyoming to China. While the forces of SSA Marine are well funded for lobbying and advertising – “every obvious effort to sell creates its own resistance” – the opposition led by Bob Ferris of ReSources is demonstrating grass-roots strength.

One possibility is that to please Bellingham voters who don't like the idea of 14 more long trains a day holding up traffic, the coal trains would be routed to Custer. But that wouldn't be good for Birch Bay residents. Expect that an information meeting for local residents will be held in August.

Part of the battle will be fought in Whatcom County Council. In the August primary four candidates are up for County Executive and two candidates for each of four Council seats. An opportunity to hear where each stands on coal trains and other issues comes on July 19 when the Bellingham Tea Party – yes, those people – will hold a forum. Expected to attend are County Executive candidates Tom Anderson, Doug Ericksen, Jack Louws and David Stalheim,. For County Council County Tony Larson and Pete Kremen, District 1; Sam Crawford and Chirstina Maginnis, District 2; and Alan Black and Barbara Brenner, District 3. The forum will be held in Syre Auditorium at Whatcom Community College,

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for a meet-and-greet time prior to the 6:30 p.m. start of the two-hour event. We understand questions will be limited to 15 seconds.

As we've done in the past we're forming questions to ask each candidate. Tell us what you'd like to know from each about coal trains and other issues.Candidates' answers will be posted verbatim.

Voice your dream for Birch Bay library services

On Wednesday, May 11 at the C Shop beginning at 7 pm, Whatcom County Library System is holding a community focus group for the purpose of determining how the library can fulfill the information needs of the area in the next three to five years. Here’s the challenge---sustainably; staying within our budget.

The focus group outline encourages recognition of the reasons people choose to live in the Birch Bay/Blaine community, what the community lacks, and the vision for the library’s role. This series of focus groups is the beginning of the library’s strategic planning process. It is essential to the process to check in with our communities and listen. There will be other opportunities to provide insight and ideas for the library’s plan, but this is the start.

The outline consists of:

• Introduction,
• Update on the library’s fiscal outlook,
• Visioning exercise for the local community
• Discussion of how the library meets the community’s information needs for the next three to five years within a sustainable budget.

All this is background for beginning the process of updating the library’s Strategic Plan. It’s crucial to hear what residents think.

Invite your friends and come help shape the future of library services in Birch Bay.

For more information, contact Library Director: Joan Airoldi, 384-3150 x201

Whatcom County Library System

Administrative and Processing Center
5205 Northwest Drive, Bellingham, WA 98226
Phone: 360-384-3150, Fax: 360-384-4947

The City Club Debate

Last Thursday, the day after the City Club debate over the plan to build a rail-head depot at Cherry Point to load coal on big ships to China, the Mariners were playing in Detroit and the color girl strayed away from the ball park to visit the Ford museum. First she showed viewers the first passenger train, a fragile little thing; then she showed us a giant locomotive that by itself could pull a mile-long train of cars full of coal. Holy smoke!

That evening on the PBS News Hour it was BNSF's turn for an extended non-commercial showing the “train that connects us all” traveling through beautiful fields with cows running along side and majestic wind turbines overhead. How romantic!

Waiting in line to get into Northwood Hall for the debate we had the good fortune to stand behind Gary Anderson, a photographer who had spent three and a half hours touring the coal dock at Tsawwassen. Devastating pictures are on his site: www.chuckanutconservancy.blogspot.com.

Inside the spacious hall we found that City Club members who paid $11 for an okeh lunch sat well-spaced at round tables with the opportunity to ask questions. As “guests” we paid $16 to sit close together at small tables. We were hoping to sit with labor union members, cheering advocates for the Gateway Pacific Terminal to be built at Cherry Point, but all at our table were opposed. The hall was packed. The program chairman acknowledged he was reluctant to announce a number because it might exceed listed capacity

The debate was between Promise and Concern. When Concern's leader Bob Ferris described the health menace, with specific examples, related to coal transportation, the Promise team of Craig Cole and Bob Watters, an executive of SSA Marine the company that wants to build the terminal said Cherry Point would be different. “Tsawwassen is like a 70s gas guzzler, Gateway Pacific will be Prius,” said Mr. Watters. Although SSA Marine operates terminals around the world the Promise team had no examples of where they operate cleanly.

Mr. Cole compared Mr. Ferris to Glenn Beck crying that he is tired of “fear mongering over coal dust.” City Club is “nonpartisian” – applause is discourage. But this time Mr. Coal was booed. (See Bob Ferris' profile on Linkedin – he has a distinguished career as a leader in environmental protection.) Belying his confidence, Mr. Cole said he went to the Powder Basin in Montana where the coal is mined and learned that three “protocols” are being tested but the railroad for the best way to limit coal dust.

In answer to questions – some from the audience were harsh – the Confidence team promised problems would be solved in the permitting process. They seem to believe they can manage those who control that process, including the Whatcom County Council.

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Mr. Coal Makes His Case

Last Tuesday Craig Cole, representing the SSA Marine, the company that wants to build the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point, spoke at the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce. From the view of executives in Seattle, Craig Cole might seem to be a good choice – a native of Whatcom County, once a member of the County Council, who ran a third-generation business and serves on the WWU board. But up close he is unconvincing.

Yes, there were folksy local references – as a boy he spent summers in Birch Bay – yet he stuck close to a power point presentation and the pretty SSA brochure that summarized on its front cover: “America needs a new export facility; Cherry Point is the best location; Hundreds of permanent jobs, millions in tax revenues; It's the right idea, the right place, the right time; Let's get America moving again.”

But Cherry Point deserves better than slogans. What was missing from Mr. Cole's presentation is an understanding and a vision of Whatcom County in the 21st Century that combines traditional industry with clean jobs utilizing technology. Why are students in our high schools studying math and chemistry and physics? How can WWU be harnessed in bringing our county into this century? Mr. Cole could speak as a statesman rather than a salesman for one company's solution.

He said that criticism raised by the terminal's critics are only “half right.” Yet he refused to identify those points that he believes are wrong.

Bellingham's Mayor Dan Pike, in attempting to make sure that “accurate facts about the project are put on the table,” produced a two-page outline that can be found at: www.cob.org

When I started to mention this at the meeting, Mr. Cole was quick to say he is a good friend of Mayor Pike. When I asked if he had read the outline he said he hadn't. Then I read one line: “Who will underwrite the cost of mitigation factors,” and said: “If you're so sure the project is safe, indemnify Birch Bay, for the shellfish, values of condos, etc. Have your friends at Goldman Sachs write a bond contract with their friends at AIG.” Mr. Cole shot back, “Mayor Pike has no jurisdiction.”

Technically, perhaps not, but influence?

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Could Coal Trains Be A Black Swan In Our Future?

The Black Swan is a concept of the destructive unexpected event that was popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a Lebanese-born short seller who became an acclaimed book author after becoming very wealthy shorting the bubbles of the last decade. Typically, these bubbles are perceived at the outset as great opportunities. So was greeted the news that SSA Marine, the giant, worldwide port operator had gained an opportunity to build the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point to load trains of coal from Montana on to ships for China.

SSA Marine, having sought this opportunity for years, came on with a blitzkrieg PR campaign to gain the support of most office holders in the state from the governor to the mayors of Lynden and Ferndale, who posed for ads supporting the terminal. Why not? This means jobs and increased tax revenue. For Birch Bay it could mean well-paid buyers of houses and lots that have been hard to sell and new houses, perhaps more new developments like Bay Crest.

Andy McCauley, president of the Bellingham Port Commission, told a group of Birch Bay residents at a recent information breakfast that, having grown up where coal is burned, he hates it, yet he is supporting the terminal because it means “economic opportunity.”

But, unlike most Black Swans that are “unexplainable and unpredictable until after the fact,” this bird is being met head on. The arguments fall into three categories:

Global Environmental Ethics – Are we increasing global warming by sending coal to China? On the other hand China will get coal from elsewhere and, if they buy it from us, the U.S. will reduce our imbalance of payments. A third hand would be that the Chinese may invest the money and engineering skills to make “clean coal” a reality.

Noise and Congestion – If projections are met, there may be as many as 14 trains, as long as a mile and a half, running through Bellingham and Ferndale daily.

Health Degradation – In a letter published by the Northern Light on March 10, Don Pitcairn, president of Surrey's United Naturalists reported on the experience of residents of the Tsawwassen First Nation's reserve, located next to the Delta Superport that is British Columbia's “gateway.” He included airborne coal dust pollution, and black tide caused by particulate from trains, ships and trucks plus a stagnant seashore due to currents impeded by causeways.

In a letter to community members Bob Ferris, executive director of ReSources, quotes a warning from Cherie Eichholz, executive director of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility that, “Coal dust has been linked to respiratory diseases.”

Bob Ferris – the full title of his organization is ReSources for Sustainable Communities – is the captain of the folks who are standing up to the advocates who include Peabody Coal, Goldman Sachs, that owns 49 percent of SSA Marine and Warren Buffett, a principal owner of BNSF, the railroad that will haul the coal from Montana and Wyoming. Information about “No Coal at Cherry Point” can be found at www.re-sources.org.

A comprehensive article on the subject was published in the April issue of Whatcom Watch (www.whatcomwatch.org). It was written by Dr. Preston Schiller who teaches courses on transportation planning and environmental issues at Huxley College of the Environment at Western. He studied the coal industry in West Virginia and worked on U.S. Clean Air Acts.

The permitting process will involve many agencies from the Whatcom County Council to NOAA and is expected to take four years. There will be ample opportunity for Birch Bay community members input including the election of county council members and the county executive.

In addition to the above sources, Jeremy Schwartz has been providing balanced reporting in the Northern Light. And you can expect the Cascadia Weekly to provide reporting and offer opinion.

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As always, comments are eagerly sought.