The Gristle

Some ’splainin’ to do

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

SOME ’SPLAININ’ TO DO: Whatom County Council member Carl Weimer took his dogs for a walk at Cherry Point last week and stumbled across a disturbing discovery. Roads had been cut into wetlands adjacent to the site of the proposed Gateway Pacific coal terminal.

While council members have been advised to stay blissfully ignorant as the proposal winds through a byzantine process for their ultimate review, the roadbuilding discovery raised questions and placed Weimer in a prickly situation. He contacted Planning and Development Service staff with questions.

“Council had just recently been told by our planning staff that to date SSA Marine had not even submitted a complete application for their project, let alone been given permits to start clearing anything,” Weimer related. “So my dogs and I investigated a little and what we found was somewhere in the area of 2.5 to 3 miles of new roads have been cleared through the wetlands at Cherry Point in the exact location where the new rail loop would be placed to dump the coal.”

Weimer followed up with planning staff and learned no permits had been issued to allow roads to be cut into the wetlands.

“They did not know about this clearing and road building, but said they would be in the area the following day and would stop by and take a look,” he said. “When I checked back with PDS a couple days later they said that, yes, the clearing and road building had been done without proper permits, and that the company had been told to apply for a clearing permit after the fact and had been told to restore the site.”

“SSA Marine and its engineering contractors understood that we had permission and were in full compliance with county regulations for gathering geotechnical information for the EIS,” Bob Watters responded. Watters is the company’s vice president.

The two miles or so of dirt road is necessary to allow heavy equipment to conduct environmental impact studies in the area of the proposed terminal, he said. Engineers noted the clearing work had begun in late June.

“As soon as we became aware there was a question about our compliance, we ordered an immediate stop to all work until we had cleared up the matter,” Watters said. “We have reconfirmed to all our employees and contractors on the Gateway project that SSA Marine has a strict standard of full compliance with all environmental regulations and we expect them to meet that standard at all times.”

Yet the statement seems at odds with communications between SSA Marine engineers, the county, and the Dept. of Natural Resources.

“The boring and access plan that you attached does not match the plan approved in 2008 and shows many more borings in areas that were not approved,” Public Works supervisor Wayne Fitch noted on July 22. “The 2008 plan authorized states that clearing efforts will be limited to removal of above ground stems and/or branches and that cut vegetation will be crushed in place to create a soil protection layer. For all wetland areas, soil disturbance will be limited to shallow surface disturbance due to tracking. No grading or excavation will be performed,” he noted from that agreement.

“This kind of geotechnical work involves large equipment and necessarily requires clearing to provide access for the exploration equipment,” SSA Marine explained in a press release. “Trees and other brush must be removed to allow this access. The work here for all of the exploration impacts less than 0.5 percent of the total thousand-acre site. Sometimes particular trees need to be removed in order to avoid wetland impacts.

“The impacts that result are temporary and the areas will quickly restore themselves,” they predicted. “SSA Marine’s contractors are following best management practices for this work.”

“The work performed to date has exposed large areas of soil in uplands and wetland areas as well as tree and root removal,” PDS Director Sam Ryan responded. “This work has gone well beyond what was previously authorized.”

Indeed, the assumption that prior agreements remain in force was thrown into question earlier this summer when planning staff determined that the proposed export facility was beyond the scope of the original agreements—both in size and cargo—and would need to be renegotiated.

Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen expressed annoyance with the company.

“They have a lot of explaining to do,” Kremen said. “For them to disregard our regulations on something this important just amazes me.”

The company maintains that it has a permit, issued in 1992, to develop the upland portion of its property. Watters explained that SSA Marine believed it did not need any further permits to conduct the exploration work, including associated clearing for access. The county, they claim, was provided notice.

Again, the statements are at odds with documents.

“It appears that SSA does not have a permit that would apply to any activity on properties east of Gulf/Powder Plant Road for the purposes of construction of the Gateway Pacific Terminal,” North Sound Baykeeper Matt Krogh observed. Records “discuss the layout of the site and the unfortunate impacts it would have on wetlands in areas like those recently cleared. Because of this sensitivity, the site layout was altered to include no construction east of Gulf/Powder Plant Road,” he said.

Kremen said the company could face fines from the county and the state Dept. of Ecology for the unauthorized destruction of wetlands.

“My administration is very serious about this issue and a slap on the wrist is not what we’re looking at,” Kremen told Seattle media. ”It certainly does raise questions about their claim about how concerned they are about following all the rules and regulations.”

UPDATE: After walking the site with county staff, SSA Marine issued a new statement:

“It’s clear that mistakes were made,” said Bob Watters, company vice president. “SSA Marine’s standards were not met and this is not acceptable. We are taking the necessary steps to make this right.”

The company said it is working closely with the county and Army Corps of Engineers to catalogue both mistakes in procedure and possible impacts to the site, and will correct all areas identified.

“The county will be issuing a set of corrective actions, and we will satisfy them,” Watters said. “There was a breakdown between what our managers expected and what our contractors did on the ground. But ultimately we are the responsible party. We will be making changes internally and establishing new protocols to make sure this can’t happen again. In addition, we will implement the corrective measures required to restore any damage, to the satisfaction of the county and the Corps.”

The company said it had stopped work as soon as questions were raised. 

Image courtesy of Matt Krogh, North Sound Baykeepers, and Get Whatcom Planning

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