A stand must be taken to protect water quality

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Wed, Jun 25, 2003, 4:07 pm  //  John Servais

Posted here because the Bellingham Herald has now ignored this for two days. Of very high importance to Bellingham - and with significant developments.

On Monday evening, the Bellingham City Council voted 4-2 to support the appeal of the Clean Water Alliance - CWA - against Whatcom County and the Sudden Valley Association in Snohomish County Superior Court. The city will file a motion to intervene, thus greatly aiding the CWA in their appeal.

Why? The County designated Sudden Valley as a future city without any required studies and in such a way as to seriously damage our city drinking water. Sudden Valley got state funds to help put in the $5 million sewer line and is going to town permitting more construction - right on the delicate watershed.

The CWA challenged the "future city" designation before the state Growth Management Hearings Board - and that board acted so outside the law that the CWA is appealing to the Snohomish Superior Court where it hopes to get a fair hearing. This is what the city is joining.

The Board had only one member- of the three - presiding at the hearing and he made a mockery of the proceedings, blatantly showing his contempt for the CWA. The Sudden Valley attorney, Phil Sharpe (ah yes, the city Public Facilities District chair - the ultimate government-paid hack) went on before the board about fine housing in Sudden Valley and ignored the laws involved. The Board voted 1-1, which supported the county.

The effort to help the CWA was led by council member Gene Knutson, hardly a person the Building Industry Assoc. - BIA - would label as an environmental radical. Gene - and the other three council members - fully realize a stand must be taken now to protect water quality for Bellingham. They also did a bit of homework and learned how the one Hearings Board member - Les Eldrege - showed total disregard for the law and fairness.

What is most troubling in this entire affair are the four supposed environmental county council members who support the Sudden Valley buildup - Dan McShane, Seth Fleetwood, Sharon Roy and Laurie Caskey-Schreiber. Dan is up for re-election this year.

So - you may agree or disagree with my opinion, but you can probably agree that the Herald should be telling you about all this. It is of vital interest and importance to Bellingham and Whatcom County. What I try to do at this website - this blog - is post information on important issues being ignored by the media.

If you want to support the Clean Water Alliance and their effort to protect our drinking water, then send them a check. The legal costs should be shared by all of us who will benefit - including developers who can sell new homes for more because of the good water. Send checks to:
CWA, c/o Lois Garlick President, 3014 Lynn St., Bellingham, WA 98225.
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Carpenters striking blows

Sat, Jun 28, 2003, 3:56 pm  //  John Servais

The carpenters' strike continued all day Friday - at St. Joe's Hospital and at several other large construction sites around Bellingham. Nada in the Herald,…

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Toxic gas news seeps slowly

Fri, Jun 27, 2003, 3:59 pm  //  John Servais

The carpenters' strike at St. Joe's Hospital continues. They are also striking several other construction sites around Bellingham. The dispute is over the construction industry…

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Stop the presses! Herald reasonably accurate!

Thu, Jun 26, 2003, 4:05 pm  //  John Servais

For the record, the Herald today reported on yesterday's story below. Reasonably accurate, if they did leave out some important information.

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A stand must be taken to protect water quality

Wed, Jun 25, 2003, 4:07 pm  //  John Servais

Posted here because the Bellingham Herald has now ignored this for two days. Of very high importance to Bellingham - and with significant developments.On Monday…

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There are a few outstanding news web sites

Tue, Jun 24, 2003, 4:13 pm  //  John Servais

that provide national and international news that is most important and not always available. One site is truthout and it depends on visitor donations to…

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The system does not work when there are no checks on state agencies

Fri, Jun 13, 2003, 11:20 am  //  John Servais

St. Joe's Hospital will probably be facing fines for venting toxic gas into the construction area of their new addition. Our Bellingham Herald has not…

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Candidate listings were updated this morn

Thu, Jun 05, 2003, 4:29 pm  //  John Servais

If you have info on candidates or possible candidates, send it in. The list to the right will be maintained through the election. We gripe…

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