Blaine Confidential

Washington State opened the flood gates to environmental devastation when state agencies stopped enforcing environmental laws, shifting that burden to the citizens at their own expense, leaving the environment at the mercy of the real estate industry. Mesmerized by real estate lobbyists in Olympia, legislators are oblivious to the massive damage now being done by the tsunami of wealthy retirees moving here in droves to gated communities.  This illegal pollution of the Salish Sea and its freshwater tributaries is irreversible, and will turbo charge salmon extinction. Whatcom County and the Washington Department of Ecology have ignored the problem.  

Remember Mayor Mary Lou Steward's September 8, 2025 meltdown , accusing Water Planning Matters (WPM) of costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars for public records requests, according to city manager Mike Harmon? Turns out, for the entire year of 2025, there were a total of 157 Public Records Act requests for Blaine documents. This attempt to discredit WPM was in order to interfere with the city council election , in which 1) Harmon attempted to persuade the council to appoint Sarbie Bains to fulfill the remainder of Councilman Mike Hill's term, without allowing any other applicants, and 2) Steward defamed candidate Lewis in retaliation for introducing a code of ethics for Blaine officials. The City of Blaine  public records controversy  did not happen in a vacuum; it happened due to three years of intense attacks by city staff on citizens holding city hall accountable to the Growth Management Act, State Environmental Policy Act, and the Clean Water Act, while the cit...

As   executive director of Salish Current News , Kari Mar noted that her acquisitions of La Conner Community News and The Northern Light are for " charting a new path forward for local news — one grounded in transparency, accountability and community trust." At the same time, Mar says she will retain local news staff at these publications, which is contrary to her mission, as TNL staff (Pat Grubb, Grace McCarthy, and Nolan Baker) all defamed Water Planning Matters and covered up crimes at city hall.

Geoffrey Baker's February 5 letter to the editor of The Northern Light (see below) corrects the erroneous record by The Northern Light on Water Planning Matters and the Avista SEPA appeal. The Editor: I am writing to request corrections to the January 28, 2026 article, “Blaine City Council denies SEPA appeal for Avista at Birch Point development.” The article describes me as someone “who leads Blaine Water Coalition, the activist group that fought for the SEPA hearing.” While the SEPA appeal was filed under the name Blaine Water Coalition, this is not an organization and BWC in name has not existed since September 2025. Despite my explicit clarification of this detail as documented in the meeting transcript, the reporter got this wrong. I volunteer for WaterPlanningMatters.org (WPM). WPM is a regional unincorporated organization operating as an affiliate of Bellingham’s non-profit Responsible Development. Additionally for at least five times now,  The Northern Light  has misl...

The remark about over 50s being no use by a reader on Next Door indicates a sentiment of intergenerational betrayal. That sentiment is reinforced by cities that cater to luxury developments for well-heeled seniors, moving here in droves, driving up rents and utility bills for the young and not well off.  The costs of growth are rarely examined by cities hungry for home sales taxes, the higher the better. Blaine's growth will soon put us in a higher rate for wholesale electricity from the Bonneville Power Administration. Expanded sewer and stormwater treatment capacity to accommodate luxury housing will cost us a bundle.

January 26  Blaine City Council   voted 5-0 (Bains, Enos, May, Newland, Sorrell) to approve Avista at Birch Point   planned unit development. The development was opposed by   Water Planning Matters   (formerly Blaine Water Coalition). Mayor Steward recused herself, and Councilwoman Sonia Hurt was reportedly hiding in the backroom. Sorrell refused to recuse himself, despite publicly supporting   death threats   against Water Planning Matters   open government activists   by his friend David Brudvik, whom Judge Anderson ruled threats to murder. The applicant for Avista, Wayne Schwandt, was also the developer of Sea Smoke, which has caused downhill flooding for Semiahmoo homes, as well as roadway damage. Schwandt received a setback to his plans at Birch Point, when  Whatcom County rejected the proposed annexation by the city of unincorporated Birch Point . The City of Blaine has lower environmental protection standards than the county , mak...