Blaine Confidential

3/21/25 letter to Whatcom County Planning Commission: Environmental Injustice  is when county, state, and federal agencies such as the Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fail to enforce the State Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act, leaving it to community activists such as Blaine Water Coalition to take on local governments in federal court for destroying municipal aquifers, salmon streams, and waters of the United States.  When local governments such as Blaine, Washington fight against citizens attempting to uphold the law, the environmental injustice of the  governmental system  that routinely and openly does not enforce the law is glaringly obvious. While no one in Whatcom County government seems to care about the City of Blaine and its residents, citizens of Washington State need to know that what has happened in our community could happen in theirs. 

3/20/25 letter to City of Blaine: On February 14, 2025, when Blaine Water Coalition notified Blaine City Council that Washington State law requires the City of Blaine to use the 2024 Stormwater Management Manual, Blaine Community Development Services director Alex Wenger and Blaine City Manager Mike Harmon both told you at the February 24, 2025 city council meeting that they are using the 2019 manual and that the 2024 manual is optional. When we exposed that as a lie, Mr. Wenger changed his story and said that the city council does not need to adopt the 2024 manual because his department has been using it since August 1, 2024. The problem with that fairy tale is that only the city council can adopt the manual, not Alex the Great. On February 18, 2025, Alex Wenger omitted Blaine Water Coalition comments from the public record prepared for Blaine Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts regarding usage of the 2024 manual claiming our submission was not filed in time. When we submitted a screensho...

3/20/25 letter to City of Blaine: Seeing how you have rejected adopting a code of ethics for Blaine elected officials, you are left with Rule 22 of the  Blaine City Council Rules of Procedure .  Rule 22 Each member present shall vote on all questions put to the City Council except on matters in which he or she has been disqualified for a conflict of interest or under the appearance of fairness doctrine. Such member shall disqualify himself or herself prior to any discussion of the matter and shall leave the City Council Chambers. Councilman Mike Hill has violated Rule 22 around a dozen times 2022-2024, and Mayor Steward neglected her duty to uphold the rules, which each city council member is required to read and support. Not one of you has raised this issue of Hill's self-dealing to financially benefit himself in his role as an elected official.  

3/19/25 letter to Whatcom County Executive: Dear Whatcom County Executive Sidhu, The two hundred and eleven $1.5 million condos proposed for Semiahmoo Spit in violation of the State Environmental Policy Act, Shoreline Management Act, and the Clean Water Act are but one example of the environmental injustice now perpetrated by the City of Blaine that threatens the Drayton Harbor watershed, endangered chinook salmon, and the treaty rights of Lummi Nation. As Drayton Harbor is an impaired water body that falls under the protections of the federal Clean Water Act, Whatcom County--which has invested millions in the Drayton Harbor Shellfish Protection District--has an obligation to hold Blaine accountable. You have not done that.

3/19/25 letter to Whatcom County Executive: Dear Whatcom County Executive Sidhu, In our extensive two-year correspondence with the Washington State Department of Ecology, the Washington Attorney General, and the Washington Governor, we were told repeatedly that if we want the Growth Management Act (GMA), the Shoreline Management Act (SMA), or the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) enforced in Blaine, Whatcom County, and Washington State, we have to sue in court. These state agencies stated repeatedly to us that  they do not enforce the law .  This exclusive policy at the top management levels of state agencies is alarming, but you have the authority to  bring a halt to the corruption in Blaine  city government and  bring Blaine into compliance with the law . There is nothing inclusive about telling concerned citizens that local governments can break the law with impunity and that their  only recourse is to come up with $100,000 minimum to defend their ci...

3/19/25 letter to Whatcom County Executive: Dear Whatcom County Executive Sidhu, Public participation is the cornerstone of the  2025 Comprehensive Plan update  under the Growth Management Act (GMA). As the governing document that determines our environmental protection policies for the next ten years, public participation is essential to its validity under the law. The Whatcom Comprehensive Plan update page on your website has a public comment archive by month, which I have used extensively since October 2024.  One of the requirements of GMA is two-way communication, so that public participation is meaningful, not just something to pay lip service to. Unfortunately, lip service is what we get from Whatcom County government, as I have not received a single reply from the County Council, you, nor the Whatcom County Prosecutor about the strategic undermining of public participation by the City of Blaine in planning our future. Our volunteer citizen group Blaine Water Coalit...