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Little Squalicum Park Cleanup

Crews work on park restoration

Cleanup crews at Little Squalicum Park have halted their work of removing hazardous waste contaminants from the park and are well behind the estimated completion date, establishing winter shut down as of Monday, Nov. 15.

The crews were given 30 days to complete the cleanup in August, but have found additional, unanticipated contaminants in the park, pushing the completion until next summer.  The crews will begin work again summer 2011, but in the meantime trails will be opened in the northwest corner of the park.

Gina Gobo Austin, parks and recreation department project leader for Little Squalicum, said during the cleanup, they have found more contamination.

“It’s a lot more work than we anticipated,” Austin said. “It’s the same contamination, but more volume than originally thought.”

Austin said some of the contamination may have to remain in the park, buried under a soil barrier.

“Oeser has taken all of the contamination so far into their repository, but when that is full, it will have to be consolidated onsite,” Austin said.

The Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the project as one of Washington State and Whatcom County’s only Superfund site and is labeled by the EPA as a national priority site.

A Superfund site according to the EPA website, is a “federal government program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.”

The clean up project has been more invasive to the park and removed more of the vegetation than what original plans demonstrated, said Councilmember Jack Weiss.

“The whole area looks like its been raped,” Weiss said.

The contamination at the park was discovered in 1997 and was designated a Superfund site by the EPA due to severe contamination. The main contaminant found is a chemical called pentachlorophenol or penta.  Penta is used at Oeser to treat utility poles and is a known human carcinogen, which is an agent directly involved in causing cancer.

Oeser has been in business of treating utility poles with penta and creosote, which is no longer used, since the 1920s. Chris Secrist, manager at Oeser, said Oeser has played an important role in the community.  He said they have helped support the Washington state economy over the years by supplying work in their industry throughout the state.  

“It starts with the land owner, public or private, and they reap benefits.  Then the contractors, foresters, truckers, Oeser employees and linesmen use the product.” Secrist said.

Secrist said Oeser employs 20 workers with salaries they can raise a family on and buy their own homes.

Weighing the environmental impact with the economic impact, Secrist said it is regrettable, but they have improved their operations.

 “Society didn’t have an appreciation (for the environment).  In the early days there were no controls, in hindsight it was not the proper way,” Secrist said. 

He said current operations have a negligible impact.

 “We believe Oeser is the most environmentally sound utility treament facility in the nation,” Secrist said.

Weiss has personal experience with the effects of penta and knows first hand of the dangers.

After an accident in 1994, when a worker accidentally put penta into a low temperature diesel flame, releasing toxic black smoke into the air.  According to the World Health Organization, one gram of penta can cause immediate liver damage.

Weiss said people in the neighborhood, including his wife, developed immediate respiratory problems.

“People immediately got sick. All the people who experienced the fire, developed health problems,” said Weiss.  “It’s not something that instantly kills, it takes time to develop into something serious.”

In 2003, Oeser was found to have violated EPA regulations regarding proper disposal of hazardous materials and not insuring a proper contingency plan.  The company was not properly discarding of waste from their drip pads, which collect drippage of chemicals applied to utility poles.

“It was largely a paperwork issue,” Secrist said.  “Even though it was cleaned up, it became classified as hazardous waste and was not disposed of as hazardous waste.  Basically a technicality.”

 Oeser was also ordered to build a financial assurance plan in order to fund accident clean up.  Oeser was ordered by the EPA to assure $36,000 in three years, but failed to do so.  The penalty for not complying with the order resulted in a $7,880 fine.

The first clean up began in 1997, but was stopped in 1998 after the EPA determined the clean up to be sufficient.

The Oeser Cedar Cleanup Coalition, a now dissolved community organization advocating for continuing the clean up at Little Squalicum, hired a consultant to conduct further studies on park contamination.

The coalition found contamination to be at unacceptable levels and reported their findings to the EPA.  In 2003, the EPA recanted their initial statement that the park was no longer sufficiently contaminated and began a process to give the city of Bellingham money for additional cleanup.

The Coalition traced the chemical footprint back to Oeser and wanted the company to take financial responsibility for the clean up.

“The bottom line was if report proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the contamination was caused by Oeser, the city would have it done on Oeser’s dime,” Weiss said.

Although Oeser was determined to be the source of the contamination, Weiss said he doubts the company has paid for any of the clean up.  He said insurance policies taken out by Oeser have covered the costs.

“The insurance policies covered the contamination, which put the insurance companies on the hook and the company (Oeser) skated,” Weiss said. “You want to talk about corporate welfare, there’s a perfect example.”

Weiss said the initial response by the EPA was inadequate, but are now on the right track. 

“The EPA is doing what it needs to do,” Weiss said. “The EPA is doing a much better job.”

Airport expansion and noise

The $30 million expansion and repaving of Bellingham International Airport, which will make room for larger aircraft and more flights, has neighbors of the airport frustrated about increasing aviation noise.
Neighbors, like Matt Paskus, said there has been an increase in the number of flights over the last decade and recently flights after 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Paskus said most residents do not want more aviation traffic.
“It’s more the business folks who want the airport expanded,” Paskus said.
Airport manager Dan Zenk said the airport expansion does not necessarily mean more traffic and more noise.
“The airport is sensitive to those local neighborhoods,” Zenk said.
Zenk said the purpose of the expansion is to handle current demand. He said the goal is to have fewer flights handling more passengers.
City Council member Jack Weiss said that is an optimistic view.
“You wouldn’t put $30 million into expansion if you didn’t want to see an increase in service,” Weiss said
The expansion and repaving allows aircraft weighing up to 330,000 pounds to use the airport increasing from the previous capacity of 180,000 pound aircraft, said Zenk.
Zenk said that larger aircraft do not necessarily generate more noise.
“That’s a misconception,” Zenk said. “Many of the larger aircraft have quieter engine technology than some of the smaller aircraft.”
Although neighbors may not like the possibility of increased traffic and noise, Weiss said local governments do not have any power over these decisions.
Weiss said the real problem with aviation noise is that the Federal Aviation Administration regulates noise, not local government.
“We can complain, but the city does not have power to influence those (noise regulation) decisions,” Weiss said. “Neighbors cannot do anything about it, it’s truly a federal regulation.”
Weiss said there have been many complaints over the years and sees complaints increasing as traffic at the airport increases.
Zenk said the Port does not have the authority to compensate neighbors to the airport for noise, like retrofitting new doors and windows to reduce noise. He said compensation falls under FAA authority.
Weiss said that if there are retrofits, they need to be on the aircraft, not on homes.
“The responsibility should not be on the homeowner, but on the Port to manage traffic and the FAA to control noise of the aircraft,” said Weiss.
A noise study conducted by a Port contractor in Feb. 2008, found noise levels did not exceed 65 decibels outside of airport property, which falls into the current land use compatibility guidelines.
Paskus, who is studying flight patterns and how they affect land use at Western Washington University’s Huxley College, said because the study was conducted in Feb. it does not calculate noise levels for busier months in the summer.
Zenk said the study was complete and objective.
“The consultant data is very objective based on decibel levels for departure and arrivals,” Zenk said. “Its all quantifiable data, there’s not a lot of subjective material.”
Some of the problems with noise stem from the flight patterns of aircraft, including helicopters. According to the FAA website, the FAA has designed noise abatement procedures for carrier routes that are intended to limit the impact of noise on residential areas.
The problem is that carriers often ignore noise abatement procedures in order to increase efficiency, Weiss said.
“We have helicopters flying from the airport to the hospital over residential areas (not following noise abatement procedures) and there are unintended consequences,” Weiss said.
Another issue concerning the airport expansion is whether or not Whatcom County can support increased traffic at the airport in the long run with 80 percent of the passengers coming from Canada.
Weiss said airports in Abbotsford, Canada and Everett, Wash. may bleed service from Bellingham in the future. Weiss said the Port’s model for the airport is not sustainable, because carriers have no obligation to stay in Bellingham.
“There is no contractual guarantee with carriers,” Weiss said. “(The expansion) is just a way to maximize short term gain.”
Paskus said Whatcom County alone cannot maintain an airline.
“We’ve got to think smarter and start building conduits to larger airports,” said Paskus.
Paskus said many carriers have had service at Bellingham’s airport and left because it was unsustainable. He does not expect the expansion to change this.
“Many airlines have come and gone and I think history is going to repeat itself,” said Paskus.
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Birchwood, Kulshan Land Trust housing project raises concerns

An affordable housing project planned for the Birchwood Neighborhood has raised concerns with people in the neighborhood about the possibility of the degradation of their property values due to the proposed project.

At the Birchwood neighborhood meeting on Sept. 28, neighbors voiced concerns over Kulshan Community Land Trust, a nonprofit development organization, plans to build 20 or more houses on a two-acre lot at the corner of West Indiana Street and Lafayette Street.

The Birchwood neighborhood is distinguished from other neighborhoods in Bellingham because of its relatively large lot sizes, with the bulk of the lots in the neighborhood measuring 20,000 square feet.  This is compared to surrounding neighborhoods, like the Lettered Streets and Cornwall Park, where the average lot sizes are almost four times smaller. 

The area where the proposed development would be built has an average lot size of measuring just below 5,000 square feet.

Jill Clark, development director at Kulshan, said she understands the concerns of the neighbors, but thinks Kulshan can show this type of housing can work in the Birchwood Neighborhood.

“Part of what we’re trying to promote is great housing that is sensitive to the neighborhood,” said Clark. “We want to build the right amount of housing for the space we have.”

According to a Kulshan press release in June, when the project was approved by the Bellingham City Council to progress by allowing the vacation of a portion of the West Indiana and Lafayette Street lots, “Kulshan CLT’s goal is to create a cluster of small, high performance, permanently affordable homes for income-qualified households.” 

Another concern at the neighborhood meeting was whether or not the houses are going to be lived in by the owners or if they are going to become rentals and have the possibility of poor management. 

Clark said the proposed housing is going to be lived in by the owners of the house.

“Renting is not allowed in the program,” said Clark. The houses are owner-occupied.”

Paul Schissler, policy advisor at Kulshan, said because the houses are owned, the homeowners will be concerned about the appearance of the property.

“Most homeowners tend to care more about their homes,” said Schissler.  “Good property management leads to higher property values.”

Parking congestion is another issue raised at the neighborhood meeting regarding the proposed development.  Clark said because of the location of the homes, the proximity to public transportation and downtown Bellingham, Kulshan is hoping they will be able to accommodate people who do not need or have cars.

As part of the project, Kulshan had to agree to build a trail, which will connect to the Bay to Baker trail.

The civil engineer and the surveyor will be meeting with city staff and there will be neighborhood meetings in the coming months with public hearings slated for spring. 

Kulshan purchases land and holds the land in the trust indefinitely with the intent to sell homes to individuals and families of modest incomes.  Kulshan currently has 94 homes in the trust and is funded in part by private donations and federal and state grants. ###