Blaine EIS

Today's letter to Whatcom County Council:

When Mayor Steward and Councilman Hill shouted down Donna McGhaffic in the middle of her oral public comment at the February 12, 2024, Blaine City Council meeting, it coincided with her questioning the financial conflict of interest of Councilman Hill voting to upzone developers' properties adjacent to his in the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA) for Blaine's drinking water without doing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as required by law. The simultaneous fiat by Mayor Steward that she was shutting down oral public comment right then and there until further notice followed on the heels of a dissenting report by former Downtown Advisory Committee (DAC) member Glen Pentland documenting financial conflicts of interest in the Central Business District upzoning that once again involved Councilman Hill voting to upzone his own properties. 

While "early, continuous, and inclusive public participation" is required under the Clean Water Act, the State Environmental Policy Act, and the Growth Management Act, it is excluded by intent in the City of Blaine. This leaves Blaine citizens with one viable option to have their voices heard and to establish the rule of law in our community—going to federal court. 

Our extensive discussions with the Washington Attorney General, Washington Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency make it clear that our civil right to participate in planning our future and safeguarding public health in Blaine without spending six figures on attorneys is being violated by the State of Washington--which chooses not to enforce the law--and the City of Blaine that routinely violates the law.

The Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA) for Blaine's drinking water should never have been included in Blaine's Urban Growth Area (UGA), and Whatcom County failed us by allowing it. Whatcom County failed us again when last year they allowed Blaine Community Development Services (CDS) director Alex Wenger to upzone the CARA for high-density residential development without doing an EIS as required by law.

While climate resilience and environmental justice are the subjects of national policy discussions, little attention is focused on how laws such as the United States Clean Water Act and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) in Washington State are being subverted by corrupt local government officials without a word from state and federal oversight agencies such as the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

We took evidence of civil and criminal wrongdoing by the City of Blaine to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and EPA criminal division a year ago. In June, Blaine Water Coalition filed a formal complaint to the EPA office of external civil rights compliance against WA State for not enforcing the Clean Water Act.

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