Stakeholders react to Cherry Point decision

In late July, Whatcom County Council enacted a series of comprehensive plan amendments that will restrict the building of new fossil fuel refineries and shipping facilities at Cherry Point, while upgrades will undergo stricter environmental review. As one of the first refinery counties in the U.S. to pass such policies, local environmental groups celebrated the council’s vote as a milestone in fossil fuel industry regulation. The industry looks to adjust with the times.

“These regulations could usher in a new era of fossil fuel policymaking in the U.S., where local municipalities can use existing regulatory power to restrict the growth of the fossil fuel industry in an era where the U.S. must swiftly transition to renewable energy sources,” Bellingham-based environmental groups Stand.Earth and RE Sources for Sustainable Communities wrote in a joint statement.

Council unanimously amended the county comprehensive plan in its July 27 meeting to prohibit the construction of new fossil fuel refineries, transshipment facilities and other infrastructure expansions in the Cherry Point industrial zone. The adopted amendments will also subject upgrade projects for existing refineries and terminals to more rigorous environmental review and permitting processes.

Cherry Point is home to two of Washington’s five oil refineries, BP and Phillips 66.

Even though the amendments will impose more responsibilities on the refineries, Pam Brady, government affairs manager for BP Cherry Point Refinery, urged council to pass the regulations without change. “These additional responsibilities reflect a consensus stakeholder view of what is needed to serve our community, and they are also consistent with the spirit of BP’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change,” Brady said in the meeting. “Our employees will rise to the challenge.”

BP has launched a transformation campaign with an ambition to become a net zero emissions company by 2050 and to help the world get to net zero.

The amendments also designate Cherry Point as an unincorporated industrial urban-growth area because of its existing large-scale industrial land uses and recognized the importance of these industries to Whatcom County’s economy.

“The Cherry Point industrial area is an important and appropriate area for industry due to its access to deep-water shipping, rail, all-weather roads, its location near the Canadian border, and its contribution to the county’s goal of providing family-wage jobs,” the amendment reads.

County staff and officials have worked for more than five years to find a set of amendments that all stakeholders could accept. The approved changes to the Comprehensive Plan have been in and out of council for nearly two years and subject to multiple revisions before their adoption July 27.

The process required 11 consecutive six-month moratoriums on filing, accepting or processing new applications for new or expanded facilities for shipping unrefined fossil fuels not processed or used at Cherry Point. The moratoriums allowed the county planning commission to rework the regulations with a stakeholder group made up of various business agents, labor union representatives and environmental groups until they were presented back to council.

“This thing has been like the third grade for me: Long and hard,” said Rod Roth, business agent and president of Laborers Local 292, a northwest construction union based in Everett.

During the public hearing before council voted, dozens of stakeholders and representatives expressed similar sentiments. Many encouraged council to pass the amendments before them. “No one got everything they wanted,” was commonly echoed among speakers. But some expressed admiration for the members of the stakeholder group and council for being able to work together.

“The final products here have support from labor groups, industry as well as environmental organizations,” said Alex Ramel, Stand.Earth climate policy advisor and a state representative for the 40th Legislative District, in the meeting. “That is a testament to all the people that joined in the stakeholder group.”

The push for more regulations governing development in the  Cherry Point industrial zone began with protests by Lummi Nation in 2012. Cherry Point is part of Lummi Nation’s ancestral land and waters, and the tribe believed additional development and transportation facilities would damage their historic fishing grounds in the Salish Sea.

RE Sources, Stand.Earth and other Bellingham environmental advocacy groups pushed against the Gateway Pacific Terminal, a coal export terminal proposed for Cherry Point that would have been the largest in North America, as well as the expansion of crude oil shipments and rail transport.

Fossil fuel companies then began considering Cherry Point as an oil, gas and coal way station for exports to Asia and the rest of the world. Estimates showed these projects could have more than doubled Washington state’s carbon emissions, according to a 2014 study by the Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based sustainability nonprofit.

Beyond allowing the two refineries to operate and expand when meeting stricter environmental benchmarks, the amendments also detail permitted manufacturing uses in the industrial zone, like textiles, marijuana farms and recreational trails, and those that require special environmental consideration.

Council chair Barry Buchanan, who has been on council throughout the re-drafting process, said passing these regulations sends a message to other local governments.

“It’s a lesson to other jurisdictions all across this country that you can work together,” Buchanan said. “You can do things that are great for your community, both economically and environmentally.”

Whatcom County councilmember Ben Elenbaas, who was reluctant to vote for the amendments, said he voted “yes” because of the work the stakeholder group did to meet each other halfway. “Although no one got exactly what they wanted, they found a compromise,” he said. “I was proud of what happened there.”

However, Elenbaas said he did not support the amendments themselves and believes local government land-use policy is not the place to regulate the oil industry. He said these types of regulations should go through federal government agencies. “They’re unneeded, unnecessary and, frankly, bastardizing local land use policy,” he said.

He said environmental groups like Stand.Earth will use this as a workaround in other oil communities to further regulate the industry.