The SE2 Saga: People, Politics and Power

Marlene Noteboom is a Washington native, having been raised on the Olympic Peninsula. She and her husband own a dairy farm in the Lynden area. Marlene has been involved in the GASP organization from the onset with numerous trips to Olympia, public hearings and Canadian involvement.

Spanning a six-year time frame, spinning a tale of irony with a lengthy cast of diverse characters, and constantly changing sets in two different countries, this story line would challenge even the best in Hollywood. The SE2 saga has succeeded in providing all the drama of people, politics and power necessary to maintain a viewing audience of thousands for months, even years on end.

Set in the small rural town of Sumas, Washington, in December of 1999, National Energy Systems (NESCO) introduced the community via an open house to the many advantages that their proposed 660 Megawatt gas-fired power plant had to offer. Jobs and money attracted city officials as much as the threat of high voltage power lines in Whatcom County distracted the folks who knew little of this project.

Skepticism and community meetings quickly brought more county people into the cast and within months, the remnants of the 1990s NOPE (Neighbors Opposing Power Encroachment) brigade were an addition that brought experience, knowledge and further education into the unit. Their struggle to succeed with a power line initiative in 1990 was tremendously reminiscent of the intense project that faced the newly formed GASP organization (Generations Affected by Senseless Power.) By spring of 2000 the city of Abbotsford, British Columbia, was no longer a sleeping giant, but was now a spinoff of the original cast and the drama was very quickly becoming a ‘tale of two cities.’ Public education banded the audience and the experts together into one of the most cohesive citizen groups yet to form between British Columbia and Washington state.

Countless public hearings before the Whatcom County Council and the EFSEC (Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council), trips to visit legislators in Olympia, Washington and obtaining thousands of signatures on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border set the stage for a dramatic pseudo finale as EFSEC unanimously denied SE2’s permit on February 16, 2001. The struggle appeared to be over but the jubilant celebrations were short-lived when NESCO chose to submit a second revised application to EFSEC. Once again the public hearings and education had to be endured until May 24, 2002, when EFSEC this time recommended approval. Ironically, the very reasons for the original denial appeared to be twisted into a recommendation that months later gained the approval of former Washington state Governor Gary Locke. Changes in the EFSEC board had apparently created a new political climate for the once denied power plant.

With a permit in hand, NESCO’s next step was to submit an application to the Canadian National Energy Board (NEB) for a connecting power line through the city of Abbotsford. Public hearings were now on Canadian soil and the NEB ruled that environmental effects in Canada of the power plant itself would be considered in their final decision. After lengthy hearings in 2003, on March 4, 2004, the NEB denied an application from Sumas Energy 2 to construct an international power line in Abbotsford, B.C. Just as before, the jubilation was marred by NESCO’s choice to appeal the ruling in the Canadian courts.

This process consumed the better part of 2004 and 2005 as the cast of characters once again anticipated the appeal hearing held on November 7, 2005. Much to the delight of both Canadians and Americans, the appeal was dismissed. Clearly, after years of well-confirmed testimony attesting to the poor choice of location for a power plant of this magnitude, the citizens’ efforts had been validated. Years of explaining the geography of the Lower Fraser Valley and the unique quality of this confined airshed had not fallen on deaf ears when the courts agreed that even the “Best Available Control Technology” was still not good enough for a sensitive place, and it should not be built there.

NESCO chose not to contest this ruling and has since asked EFSEC that their request for a renewal on the air quality permit be put on hold. What may be in store for NESCO? The storyline has not yet been written and maybe the stage is being set for another chapter. Power lines may still be an issue in Whatcom County, water usage out of the aquifer concerns the community of Sumas and flooding always seriously affects the surrounding residents and businesses. The people of British Columbia and Whatcom County continue to wait and watch, always approaching their politicians with new information, and always keeping their eyes on laws and the power to protect the location that has been confirmed as sensitive and inappropriate for NESCO’s proposal. The saga of “people, politics and power” has been and may continue to be a real life drama capable of challenging and rallying a viewing audience of thousands on both sides of the border. §