Permit Applications Filed By BP Reflect Larger, Longer Operations / Facebook post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

bp application 081417

Click the graphic to access a full copy of BP’s 08/14/17, Notice of Construction and Permit Application with the Northwest Clean Air Agency

4:40am  September 4, 2017  Wendy Harris

New compressors and ancillary equipment are all the rage at Cherry Point, with BP’s application following on the heels of the Petrogas application. BP asserts that this equipment exceeds the air quality standards and reduces pollution. Oh, and they are also asking, in addition to this new construction, for approval of other pollution reducing equipment for the Flare Gas Recovery Unit, for use during maintenance events. Gas recovered will be used “as refinery fuel gas.” Continue reading

Whatcom County Council turns down citizen input by ballot on eminent domain by pipeline companies / Facebook post, Noisy Waters Northwest

 

tribune eminent domain

The proposition to create an advisory ballot measure to be voted on in November to seek citizen input on eminent domain being used by oil pipeline companies did not pass at the Tuesday, July 25, County Council Meeting. Council Members Browne, Weimer, and Brenner abstained and Council Member Mann was absent, so the motion failed. Thank you to all who spoke to and wrote in to the County Council about this topic. Continue reading

Pipeline Companies Want to use Eminent Domain to Force you to Allow Their Pipeline on Your Property / Facebook Post, Whatcom Hawk, Wendy Harris

eminent domain resolution

Click the text graphic to read the full proposed resolution on the Whatcom County website.

5:01am  July 20, 2017  Wendy Harris

PUBLIC HEARING NEXT TUESDAY BEFORE COUNTY COUNCIL ON WHETHER THIS SHOULD GO ON BALLOT.

HASN’T THE THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY ENDANGERED PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY ENOUGH ALREADY? TELL COUNCIL WE DO NOT NEED OR WANT CHERRY POINT EXPANSION, MORE PIPELINES, MORE TRAINS AND MORE SHIPS.  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

Cherry Point Amendments and Critical Areas Ordinances need to reflect measures to protect orcas / Letter to Whatcom County Council, Dena Jensen

scientists shipping noise herald

April 15, 2016  Dena Jensen

Dear Whatcom County Council:

I am sending this email for you to earnestly consider during your review of the Cherry Point Amendments to Whatcom County’s Comprehensive Plan and the Critical Areas Ordinance. The information below is why it is critical that expanded vessel shipping going anywhere out of Cherry Point is, at this time particularly, unacceptable.  Thus, this is another reason it is critical that the County include the study in the Cherry Point Amendments that will help the County find legal ways to limit the export of unrefined fossil fuels, above current levels, out of Cherry Point. Continue reading

Thank you for approving the interim moratorium for Cherry Point and other things regarding the Cherry Point Amendments / Letter to Whatcom County Council, Dena Jensen

interim moratorium agenda bill

March 29, 2017  Dena Jensen

Last week Whatcom County Council voted 6-1, Council Member Brenner opposed, to approve the “ordinance imposing an interim moratorium on the acceptance and processing of applications and permits for new or expanded facilities in the Cherry Point Urban Growth Area, the primary purpose of which would be the shipment of unrefined fossil fuels not to be processed at Cherry Point.”  I wanted to write this week to thank them for approving the moratorium. Continue reading

Letter to BP’s Associate Director, NW Government and Public Affairs regarding Cherry Point Amendments / Dena Jensen

policy 2CC-15 council proposal

You can view the full version of the Whatcom County Council’s September 14, 2017 Proposed Cherry Point Amendments by clicking the graphic above.

Saturday March 12, 2017  Dena Jensen

I am posting a letter that I sent on March 11, 2017 to BP’s Associate Director of NW Government and Public Affairs Pam Brady, who is on the Board of Directors of the Whatcom Business Alliance.  The Whatcom Business Alliance (WBA) is increasingly promoting their campaign against elements of the Whatcom County Council Proposed Cherry Point Amendments to our County’s long-term planning document, the Comprehensive Plan.   Continue reading

Peak Oil? A Chaotic Transition is in Process / NorthwestCitizen, David Camp

As the graphic shows, US gasoline inventories are at a 27-year record high. And yet, gas prices and oil prices continue to rise – having increased by about 30-40% (depending on the grade and source) in 2016. And as the second graphic shows, US gasoline consumption in the first part of 2017 is down 8% from the same period in 2016. Strange things are happening –

Continue reading