County Council is uninformed on community concerns about immigration policies at 6/27/17 Whatcom County Council Meeting / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest

donovan june 27 2017 immigration

Council Member Todd Donovan brings forward concerns of community members regarding immigration policies at the June 27, 2017 Whatcom County Council Meeting

1:08pm  July 4, 2017  Dena Jensen

I am posting this link to a portion of last week’s [June 27 2017, Whatcom] County Council meeting where Council Member Donovan says he is trying to figure out how to procedurally approach addressing an ordinance and concerns people have expressed having to do with how our law enforcement agencies might be interacting with people of the immigrant community. He says that a group of people have brought this to the attention of himself and Council Member Weimer. Continue reading

Major Development on Lake Whatcom at Lake Whatcom Wildwood Resort / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

wildwood resort optional dns

Click the graphic to view this full document on the Whatcom County website.

June 10, 2017  Wendy Harris

The county intends to issue a SEPA Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS) for the most significant development on the shorelines of Lake Whatcom that I have seen in the last 10 years. It is being done under the optional DNS procedures of SEPA which does not allow for a public hearing. The public may provide written comment on this project until July 5th.http://www.whatcomcounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/28929. Continue reading

6/13/2017 Public Hearing “to gather comments on the sizing of a proposed new jail in Whatcom County” / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest

June 8, 2017  Dena Jensen

At the Public Hearing at next week’s County Council Meeting on Tuesday June 13 at 7 p.m. (rally at 6:00 beforehand), it seems our comments on jail bed numbers (the number of people we envision being incarcerated in our county in the future) need to be based on all the best statistical data we have in our private-citizen hands that supports that we now have all the tools at our disposal, and will continue to have more, that will allow a reduction in the number of people we are incarcerating and that we are ready to begin a new age that abandons our failed justice system. Continue reading

Northwest Clean Air Agency response to Ferndale odor that made some students feel ill Thursday 6/1/2017 / Facebook post, Coal Stop

nwcaa phillips 66 ferndale odor

June 2, 2017  Dena Jensen

As more information does or does not come out about the strong smell that left students and staff at a number of Ferndale schools feeling sick on Thursday June 1, keep this report from the Northwest Clean Air Agency handy. It remains to be seen whether anyone will ever identify that the “upset in the refinery process” that caused a strong sulfur odor on site at the Ferndale Phillips 66 facility while winds were blowing toward the Ferndale schools at the time, is the source for the odor. This odor has only been vaguely described as mysterious or strange or nasty in a the news reports about the occurrence. I wonder why. Continue reading

Email response from Sheriff Elfo to my 3/30/17 email to the Jail Stakeholder Work Group / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest, Dena Jensen

jail stakeholder work group march 30 email

May 11, 2017  Dena Jensen

I got an email from Sheriff Elfo this morning in response to an email I wrote back on March 30, to the Jail Stakeholder Work Group (my email is shown in the graphic). This resistance-is-futile kind of quote from the Sheriff bugs me the most: “Despite all that is being done and can be done outside the context of the jail, there will continue to be a need for a jail. The law requires it.” Continue reading

Do you believe in fate? Recent Doug Ericksen FOIA records finally received / Facebook post, Sj Robson

epa pay doug 031817

EPA Earnings and Leave Statement for Doug Ericksen, period ending 03/18/2017

May 11, 2017  Sandy Robson

On March 20, 2017, I submitted a FOIA request to the EPA for records relating to Washington state Senator Doug Ericksen, who was appointed by the Trump Administration to a Senior Adviser position with the EPA, which started on January 21, 2017. I have been checking daily on the FOIA website under my registered account to see if the records I requested were released, but each time I looked, my request would still display the following: “No records have been released.”  Continue reading

Transparency, or the lack thereof, in Whatcom County Administration / Facebook post, Sj Robson

personius to sandy hirst resolution 05022017

2 hrs  May 3, 2017  Sandy Robson

Copied and pasted below, and shown in attached screenshot photos, are my recent email communications with County Planning and Development Services Assistant Director Mark Personius, about the Resolution (2017-019) that County Council approved on April 18, 2017, requesting the state legislature to amend the Growth Management Act, relating to the Washington Supreme Court decision on the Hirst et al. case. My initial curiosity regarding the origin of the resolution was borne out of my having listened to part of the audio recording of the April 18, Council Natural Resources Committee meeting, during which Council members seemed to be unaware of who proposed the resolution.  Continue reading

Doug Ericksen: On the door, or out the door? / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Sj Robson

inside epa daily feed ericksen epa postion 041717

9:00am April 23, 2017  Sandy Robson

Most people had heard back in January, that State Senator Doug Ericksen, was appointed by the Trump Administration to a post at the EPA’s D.C. Headquarters, on January 21, 2017.

I was recently told by someone I know that Ericksen has an office at the EPA’s Region 10 Office, located in Seattle. The individual said they had visited the Region 10 Office in late March, and they had seen an office there with Doug Ericksen’s name on the door. Continue reading