From Stark:

We’re at the point in the legislative session in which bills die by the dozen, because they have failed to move out of their house of origin by last week’s deadline.

Listed among the dead is SB 5648, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-40th. Ranker’s bill would have exempted  small-scale milk producers from the regulations imposed  by RCW 15.36.

Ranker’s dead bill defined “small scale” as no more than two cows, nine sheep, or nine goats, and exempted such mini-producers only if they do not advertise their milk for sale. It sounds as though the bill was meant to enable hobbyists to sell a little milk to friends and neighbors without being in violation of state law.

From Stark

The Gateway Pacific cargo terminal was the topic of discussion Thursday night at a meeting of Whatcom County Democrats.

One speaker, Mayor Dan Pike, gave what he agrees is a qualified endorsement of the project.

Whatcom County Council member Tony Larson’s endorsement is more enthusiastic. He’s gathering letters of support from local notables and expects to draft a supportive resolution to present to the rest of the council in the next few weeks. But Larson also agrees that environmental mitigation is important.

Here’s the written statement that Mayor Pike provided this morning:

“With regard to the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry point, the city is still in an information gathering mode, and — as you will hear tonight — there is a range of opinion about the proposal and the facts.  I am a supporter of bringing these types of jobs and opportunities to Bellingham, given appropriate conditions and mitigations of the downside impacts.

What is important to me as Mayor is to make sure that accurate facts are on the table, to carefully analyze the impacts of those facts on our community, to insure that impacts which cannot be avoided are mitigated, and finally to demand the costs of mitigation come from those who profit directly, not our local citizens.

This is moving fast but already four things stand out as important:
1.    that increased rail traffic is mitigated by modern crossing equipment with a Federal Quiet Zone from Chuckanut Bay to the Cement Plant.
2.    that access points to the waterfront should not be reduced nor should they be cut off for unreasonable amounts of time.
3.    that the shoring of the banks below Eldridge neighborhood to prevent slides should be evaluated in light of the increased frequency and weight of trains.
4.    If coal is to be transported it should be in Gondola cars, not hoppers, and it should be covered.

Concerns about environmental justice, noise, and traffic impacts are legitimate and must be addressed. We have a long way to go and we have to be sure that whatever is done it is “done right”. I hope you will all stay involved over the next couple of years.”

Bob Ferris, executive director of RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, says this project has an awful lot of mitigating to do. He sent me a comment on Pike’s statement via email:

“I took the mayor’s statement at its face value and am anxious to see proposals for mitigating the millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions, removing the new mercury from our waterways, restoring lost property values along the railway, and an re-employing the estimated 100,000 US manufacturing jobs displaced by these proposed coal shipments.”

I’ll be preparing a detailed report for online and print editions.

From Paben

Whatcom County code currently includes language that states that no subdivision or commercial development can be approved unless the providers of water and sewer, schools and fire protection issue letters saying they can serve the development.

County Council member Kathy Kershner has applied to delete that section of code.

In her application, Kershner says the “concurrency” language, as it’s called, conflicts with the state Growth Management Act. The GMA only requires such language for transportation on arterials and for transit, she wrote.

“Adequacy of facilities should be determined by the county as part of its comprehensive planning and capital facilities planning,” she wrote. “The existing ordinance conflicts with this principle as a practical matter, allows special districts to hold up or veto developments that are otherwise allowed for under the County’s Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinance.” (more…)

From Stark

Lummi Nation has issued a brief statement on the Lummi Island ferry negotiations:

“The February 10, 2011 letter from the Lummi Nation to Whatcom County regarding the Lummi Island Ferry was in response to the Whatcom County January 25, 2011 letter transmitting their Best and Final Offer.  The negotiations regarding the Lummi Island Ferry terminal at Gooseberry Point have been taking place for 15 months and during that entire time the Lummi Nation has stressed a need to address traffic safety concerns that come with the ferry traffic.  An interim agreement has been in place for over one year.  The County has not seriously addressed the traffic safety matters in any of their offers.  There is little Lummi Community support to continue serving as the drive-through community for the Island residents.  There is no support for the continued operation of the ferry at Gooseberry point without substantial and timely safety improvements.

There have been misrepresentations in the press about the offers that the Lummi Nation has presented to Whatcom County.  The last offer presented to the County was for a 25-year lease with payments of $200,000 per year with an inflation adjustment and $10 million over 10 years for traffic safety projects.  At no point did the Lummi Nation request a base lease payment plus $22 million as the Bellingham Herald reported on February 16th.

The Lummi Nation will not interfere with the ferry operation during the 60-day period.” (italics added)

From Stark:

I have asked the tribe to elaborate on what will happen if the 60 days pass and no agreement has been reached. Updates as they become available.

The Feb. 16 article did not say the tribe is requesting $22 million.

Here is what it said:

(County Council Chairman Sam) Crawford said the tribe appears willing to accept $16,667 per month — or $200,000 per year — as a lease payment, but the tribe wants additional financial commitments that are deal breakers for the county.

Crawford said the county can’t commit to those expenses without unacceptable cuts to repair and maintenance of other county roads.

The tribe has been talking about the eventual need to move the ferry dock since at least 2006. I have emailed the tribe asking them to clarify any links between this relocation issue and the question of a new long-term lease for the existing dock.

A traffic study issued in late 2009, prepared for both the county and Lummi Nation, had this to say about traffic safety issues surrounding ferry operations:

“The data shows that while the ferry certainly accounts for a significant amount of traffic and congestion both on the roads and in the waiting-line areas, there is no clear evidence that the vehicles involved in the crashes were predominantly bound for or coming from the ferry.  Several of the accidents occurred late at night or in the early morning after the ferry had stopped its operations for the day.”

From Stark:

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen provided a brief statement Wednesday, Feb. 16 on the negotiation stalemate between Whatcom County and Lummi Nation over a new lease to insure continued operation of the Lummi Island Ferry.

I emailed Larsen for a comment after county officials said they had appealed to him and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell for their assistance in helping to resolve the matter.

“Whoever told the Lummi Nation that cutting off the lifeline of the 900 residents of Lummi Island is a good idea, is giving them terrible advice,” Larsen replied. ” I hope that the County and the Tribe will return to the table to negotiate a productive solution to this issue that addresses the needs of the local community.”

In a followup email, I have asked Larsen whether he is in a position to discuss this situation with federal agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Department of Interior, which oversees the bureau. I’ll relay his response as it becomes available.

Larsen spokeswoman Emily Halnon has relayed this response:

“Rick has reached out to the Bureau of Indian Affairs a number of times to clarify how the federal government can be involved in this process. There is not a regulatory or oversight role at the federal level other than the BIA approving the final lease on the tidelands-which does not include the lease for the actual land.”

I have also asked the tribe for a response to Larsen’s comment.

Tip Johnson, a former Bellingham City Council member and prominent civic activist, has examined documents from county archives going back more than 100 years that appear to document the existence of a county right-of-way for ferry access to the island, granted by the Department of the Interior.

Up to this point, county attorneys have said they didn’t think that the right-of-way argument was a trump card they could play in ferry negotiations.

But if the ferry issue moves from the negotiating table to the courtroom in a couple of months, it would not be surprising to see attorneys for the county and/or the islanders introducing these documents into evidence.

from Stark

Stuart Rich, president of Protect Lummi Island Community, just sent out a written statement calling on the county to pursue legal and political means to get federal agencies to take steps to resolve the impasse between Whatcom County and Lummi Nation over a new lease that will keep ferry service to the island operating.

As we reported on this blog yesterday, and in print today, events took a turn for the worse when Lummi Indian Business Council Chairman Clifford Cultee sent the county a letter announcing that the tribe expects the county to terminate operation of the Gooseberry Point ferry dock within 60 days.

Rich says it may be time to ask the courts to resolve the issue of what rights the islanders and the county have to continue to use their existing right-of-way through the reservation and its tidelands via the dock and the ferry route itself. The right-of-way argument contends that the county has no obligation to negotiate with the tribe to keep the dock and ferry operating.

In the past, the county’s attorneys have said they were not convinced that this argument would prevail in court, and Rich’s letter acknowledges that federal agencies have not acknowledged its validity.

Lummi Nation spokesman AJ Barse said Cultee won’t be available for additional comment today.

Here is Rich’s statement:

For the third time in just over a year, the Lummi Nation has imposed yet another deadline to end ferry services to Lummi Island. The chairman of Lummi Indian Business Council, Clifford Cultee, sent a letter to Whatcom County Council Chairman Sam Crawford dated 2/10/11 that rejected the County’s monthly rent check of $16,666 and told the County to “terminate its ferry operations” within 60 days.

Why? The simple answer is money. The County’s best offer was $200,000 a year for 25 years, plus an annual consumer price index (CPI) adjustment potentially worth millions more. This was still not enough, despite the fair-market rental appraisal of $65,000 a year on the tidelands property in question where the ferry dock is located at Gooseberry Point..

What will it take to end this cycle of brinksmanship which holds Lummi Island hostage? Here’s a message to the County: just run the ferry! The Lummi Nation accepted the benefits of the expired lease for 25 years, and now wants to take an unfair advantage by ending their legal obligation to renew the lease for fair market value for another 25 years.

Perhaps it’s time for a court of law to determine the legal rights of Whatcom County and Lummi Nation.

At the heart of the problem lie federal issues much bigger and more complex than a small county government with depleted resources can be expected to handle on its own. There is no parity between Whatcom County and the sovereign Lummi Nation, which depends upon and is accountable to the federal government.

The Department of Interior through the Bureau of Indian Affairs specifically granted the right-of-way for the road to Lummi Island (i.e., the ferry run) as a matter of public necessity more than 80 years ago. The BIA holds the disputed tidelands in trust for the Lummi Nation and has the authority to grant easements and approve leases which it generally does only with the tribe’s approval .

Yet the BIA has steadfastly refused to consider the ferry lease extension and has stonewalled requests for intervention from both County Executive Pete Kremen and from representatives of Protect Lummi Island Community (PLIC).. For an agency of the United States government to fail to recognize the existence of a right-of-way previously granted by them is unconscionable.

We need our Congressional delegates to step up and help solve this federal problem. The citizens of Whatcom County must speak out clearly to our representatives and say, “Enough is enough, fix this.”

To our Lummi Nation neighbors, our message is also clear: your long-term interests, community development, and public good will are better served by finding workable compromises and solutions.

As a community in danger, the time is critical for Lummi Island residents to take action and send a strong message for help to our Congressional delegates. Whatever your position is, we can all agree that we need the Gooseberry Point ferry terminal to maintain our lives and the well-being of our community.

Please join us on Tuesday, February 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Grange to develop an action plan. The time is now.

From Stark:

I’ve gotten a few calls and emails today from people scoffing at the idea that we now have 24 to 28 trains passing by on the local rail lines, as reported in today’s story about the impact that a proposed Cherry Point cargo terminal would have on rail traffic here.

If you have definitive information on this, let me know by email, phone call or blog post. Just had a nice chat with a Custer resident who insists that the 24-to-28-train total is at least double the actual amount today.

Of course, today’s total could be well below “normal,” since severe recession does reduce cargo shipments of all kinds.

From Stark

Via North Sound Baykeeper Matt Krogh: Here is a link to an article in the Longview Daily News about coal dust at the big Westshore coal terminal in Tsawwassen, B.C.

Among other things, boaters at the nearby Point Roberts Marina say they get coal dust on their boats. This is apparently the result of nearby coal terminal operations, not passing rail cars.

Terminal operators say they do their best to keep dust down, and some suggest that much of the dust that people complain about is just road and diesel soot that you get anywhere. But operators also admit that the operation does produce dust.

Longview is interested because a coal terminal is proposed for that city, although it would apparently be much smaller than the one in B.C., or the Gateway Pacific terminal proposed for Whatcom County at Cherry Point.

Note that the article says the Tsawwassen port gets 600 rail cars per day to serve its 29 million-ton-per-year capacity. Gateway Pacific would be about the same size, with proponents now estimating 25 million tons per year.

From Stark

SSA Marine spokesman Craig Cole left me voice mail this morning about today’s report on SSA Marine’s Gateway Pacific Terminal project.

Cole said it was incorrect to describe Goldman Sachs as a “major investor” in Carrix Inc., SSA’s parent firm.

Carrix and SSA continue to be controlled by the Smith family, whose forebears founded the company in Bellingham in the 1940s, Cole said.

My description of Goldman Sachs as a “major investor” was based on a 2007 press release from Carrix stating that “Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners has committed to a significant equity investment in the Company, positioning Carrix to capitalize on the substantial growth opportunity in the global port operations industry.”

Read more about Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners here on the Goldman Sachs website. Among other things, the web page says Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners makes investments ranging in size from $100 million to $400 million.

From Stark

The interest in the Wednesday, Feb.16 meeting to discuss Border Patrol tactics and operations apparently exceeds the capacity of the small Border Patrol conference room originally scheduled to contain it.

This morning, the agency announced that the site has been changed to the Performing Arts Center at Blaine School District, 1055 H Street, Blaine. Here’s the text of the agency announcement:

U.S. Border Patrol Town Hall Meeting moved to larger venue in Blaine

BLAINE – Due to overwhelming public interest, the meeting scheduled for February 16, 2011, from 5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m., has been moved to the Blaine School District Performing Arts Center in order to accommodate all who wish to attend.  The Blaine School District Performing Arts Center is located at 1055 H Street, Blaine, Washington.

Residents living near the international boundary with Canada are invited to this town hall meeting with senior officials of the U.S. Border Patrol, Blaine Sector and Office of Air and Marine, Bellingham.  The meeting will begin with a general overview of Border Patrol operations and then open up to questions, concerns, and input from the public.

There is no longer a need to call if you would like to attend, however, if you have any questions regarding this event, the public affairs department can be reached at (360) 332-9255.

From Stark:

In a story that will be published in the next few days, I take a quick look at the potential impact of increased rail traffic through Bellingham and Whatcom County, south of Cherry Point, if SSA Marine succeeds in establishing a new marine cargo terminal on vacant industrial land south of the BP Cherry Point crude oil dock.

It’s early yet. If all goes as SSA hopes, the permitting process will take two years, and construction will take two more years. During that permitting process, the impact of rail traffic will be studied, as will other sensitive issues such as the shrinking population of Cherry Point herring.

As of now, the terminal is projected to have a capacity of 25 million tons of (?) per year, and a terminal that size would need five or six trains a day to keep it supplied. The only way to get a train to Cherry Point, other than via Canada, is through Bellingham–and Ferndale.

Those trains would come back south on the same route after unloading.

Existing train traffic is said to be 24 to 28 trains per day.

As of now, coal looks like the most probable mainstay of such a facility, but since the terminal isn’t in business as of now, it’s possible that some other cargo could rise to prominence by the time the facility is built–if it is. SSA’s Bob Watters says construction will take two years, after the two-year permitting process that SSA plans to start this March.

I fully expect to be covering this project until I retire, unless I’m transferred to prep sports.

Many of you have noticed that we already have coal trains rumbling through town, on their way to the Deltaport terminal at Roberts Bank, B.C.  I’m wondering if those of you who live close to the tracks have had any issues with coal dust. Give me a call at 715-2274 or email at john.stark@bellinghamherald.com if  you want to talk about it.

Footnote: SSA apparently has friends in high places. Aside from the fact that Goldman Sachs is a major investor in its parent firm, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell lobbied Chinese officials on behalf of SSA’s proposal to build a terminal in China, according to a State Department cable obtained by the New York Times via Wikileaks.

I found that tidbit via Longshore & Shipping News.

From Stark

Earlier today I discovered the Bilateralist blog, authored by the Washington correspondent for Maclean’s magazine, Luiza Ch. Savage.

She compiles lots of news reports affecting the two nations and the border that divides and unites them. Today she highlights Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s congressional testimony reacting to a recent GAO report saying that her agency has “operational control” over only 32 of the 4,000 miles of border. That prompted a lot of heavy breathing on Capitol Hill.

Napolitano basically says it isn’t as bad as all that, and the lack of “operational control” in other areas doesn’t mean utter lawlessness.

From Paben

I just wrote this up to run tomorrow:

County leaders approved spending up to $1.2 million in economic development funds to help subsidize new homes for low-income residents.

The County Council on Tuesday, Feb. 8, voted 6-1, with Tony Larson opposed, to move forward with creating a program using Economic Development Investment funds. The funds are sales tax revenues given by the state to the county.

The money will go into a program managed by the city of Ferndale. Low-income housing providers can tap into the funds and use them to pay city impact and utility fees charged on new homes. (more…)

From Stark

UPDATE: Harper and Obama have announced the outline of a two-nation trade and security agreement that could have significant impact in Whatcom County. As of now, nobody at the Associated Press appears to consider this to be of any significance whatsoever. We have no wire stories to give you as of now.

But thanks to the miracle of the internet, we CAN link you to the Toronto Globe and Mail, which is taking all this VERY seriously.

Personally I remain skeptical that we’ll see any meaningful easing of cross-border security any time soon.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be in Washington, D.C. today to discuss security issues with President Barack Obama, the Canadian Press reports.

Based on this latest dispatch, the two North American leaders are expected to announce hopes for a deal before the end of the year, rather than an actual deal, today.

Harper’s Canadian critics in the Liberal Party have charged him with selling out Canadian sovereignty in order to assuage U.S. fears about potential terrorists getting into the U.S. via Canada.

But if the two countries succeed in reaching a perimeter security deal, the improved flow of tourism and trade over the border could pay off in Whatcom County.

From Stark:

Border Patrol Agent Rhett Bowlden says some people have expressed irritation because his agency has asked people to phone in advance to RSVP if they want to attend the  “town hall meeting” that border agencies have called for Feb. 16 in Blaine.

The meeting is meant to address border residents’ concerns about Homeland Security’s land and air operations over and around their homes and farms.

Bowlden said the Border Patrol asked people to phone ahead because the agency wants to make sure there will be enough space for everyone. People who phone in are not being screened, and there was never any plan to exclude anybody.

The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Feb. 16, 2011 at the Blaine Sector headquarters, 2410 Nature’s Path Way, Blaine.

The meeting will begin with an overview of Border Patrol operations and then open to questions, concerns, and input from the public.

Those who plan to attend have been asked to call the Border Patrol at 332-9255 before Feb. 15.