#Bellingham #WA: Update. 2/15 Public Hearing. Comments accepted thru 2/22 RE: Engineering Design for proposed $9 million project

Good news. A public hearing will be held. Please click on one of the links below that go to the Cornwall Ave Landfill site at Washington State Department of Ecology and view the details. Please attend the 2/15 meeting which will be in the evening in Bellingham at the Ecology office. Comments may still be submitted online or via other means through 2/22. Thanks to all who are participating in trying to prevent harm to nature.

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1/19 POST

1963 photo of Cornwall Ave Landfill (by Phil Robbins)

I imagine there are many similar projects nationwide, such as former landfills and former logging transportation sites. It would be interesting to compare how other towns, counties and states have addressed such waste sites, are considering the problem, or are ignoring it.

A public comment notice was published and mailed by the Washington State Department of Ecology in December 2017 saying at least 10 comments from Bellingham area citizens calling for a public hearing would result in one being held. This is in regard to preliminary designs for a portion of contaminated coastal land and bay being cleaned up. Did you happen to see it?

December 2017 mailing from
WA State Dept. of Ecology

I imagine comments by any number of citizens beyond ten would be constructive. Comments may be submitted by individuals or organizations. In the past, extensive comments have been submitted for work being done at this site, but it seems to me that louder input by more people/associations would help a lot.

Please review the Cornwall Avenue Landfill Cleanup Site (which includes links to the Engineering Design Report and addresses of locations where you can review hard copies). Please submit a comment, whether one sentence or a scientific study. You can attach files too. Include your specific request for a public hearing if you agree this so warrants. In my comment, I asked that more than one opportunity be created for citizens to contribute their input.

Please note that Ecology is upgrading its website and I got some 404 errors when I was hopping around. Please make note of how the Department has set up the specific page URL for the moment: https://Bit.ly/CornwallAveLandfill

The page to submit comments is https://Bit.ly/Cornwall-EDR-Comments deadline to request a public hearing is January 31. 

Thank you!

P.S. I recommend the very informative background provided by North Sound Baykeeper in these two articles:

http://northsoundbaykeeper.blogspot.com/2011/12/bellinghams-cornwall-landfill-in-1960.html

http://northsoundbaykeeper.blogspot.com/2013/04/rds-road-to-mrf.html

Bellingham WA: Dismayed at the Exporting of Logs

A couple of Geese and a Gull at Bellingham Bay 1-31-17

I was dismayed recently to read of the Port of Bellingham’s new harbor lease signed with a private company to export logs and other material to worldwide destinations from the Bellingham Shipping Terminal (BST). As I understand it, the aim is to send logs and other material to China, South Korea and Japan and other markets at the discretion of the Lessee Grand Camp International LLC. The lease was signed by the three elected Port of Bellingham Commissioners and may be viewed on the Port of Bellingham website.

For many years, Bellingham along with state and federal agencies have been cleaning up pollution left behind by 100 years of industrial use in and around Bellingham Bay. More background is available at the Washington Department of Ecology site. It seems odd to me to replace dirty industry with dirty industry. The deal was signed the first week of January 2017 and is already in motion. I only read about it (thanks to Students for The Salish Sea and NoisyWaters NW groups on Facebook) after it happened.