Twenty Years Ago

To celebrate 20 years of publishing Whatcom Watch, we will publishing excerpts from 20 years ago. David Laws has been generous enough to volunteer to review the Whatcom Watch from 20 years ago to find suitable material to reprint. The below excerpts are from the September 1992 issue of Whatcom Watch, they deal with proposed development at Cherry Point.

Compiled by Rebecca Meloy

Big Shipping — Fragile Waters

Of great importance is a proposed 347 acre Cherry Point Industrial Park for the assembly/manufacture and transshipment of goods … this area is zoned Heavy Impact Industrial … it is more importantly an area of historical Whatcom County public use which has a fantastic deep water wildlife habitat which is located next to land. The waters off this shore have been shown to be critical for herring, spawning, crab nursery and commercial fishing.

The facility … is for storage or shipment of fertilizers, grain, edible oils, ores, manufactured products and foods, bottled potable water, lumber and coke. Petroleum and coal are not proposed to be handled at the site.

[…]

Some additional concerns the WATCH has learned from citizens are:

The pier goes far beyond what the Shoreline Management Plan allows.

Public access to the beach was not mentioned in the checklist.

What will be the impacts to Bellingham and other higher density residential areas with an increase in railroad traffic.

What will be the cumulative impacts from increased truck traffic.

What will be the pollution impacts from ship bilge waters, fueling spills, and fertilizer spills etc. Laws exist but they provide inadequate pollution prevention.

The ships are far larger than what have ever traversed our waters.

The article concludes with a call to send your ‘scoping questions’ to the proper official.

and another article, also compiled by Rebecca Meloy:

Bigger Shipping—Fragile County

A second 900 acre major shipping and storage facility … is also being considered for Cherry Point. This facility is not planned to limit oil or coal shipments, it will have its own pier and will entail the filling of wetlands.

[…]

Keep you [sic] eyes open for the upcoming legal notice to be run in The Bellingham Herald in the next week or so.