Whatcom County Council passes the introduction of a 5th interim moratorium on facilities at Cherry Point during their July 24th, 2018 meeting. Council members introduced ordinance (AB2018-077B) “Imposing an interim moratorium on accepting permits for new or expanded facilities in the Cherry Point urban growth area, the primary purpose of which would be the shipment of unrefined fossil fuels not …
Labor shortage could lead to higher wages – and prices
No doubt about it, the U.S. economy (and the USA) is back! With the burden of excessive regulatory overreach at the Federal level on the decline and tax cuts and other business-friendly policies taking hold, businesses want to expand. For the first time in recent memory, there are more jobs to fill than there are qualified people seeking jobs. The …
County Council Continues Discussion on Regulations to Cherry Point With Moratorium That Will Restrict Growth and Jobs
The Whatcom County Council continued their discussion of a “temporary” Cherry Point permit moratorium during its Special Committee of the Whole meeting, on June 19th. Councilmembers had asked staff to prepare Comp Plan amendments in an effort to write regulations that would interrupt Cherry Point-based industries to expand business growth and avoid a lawsuit for Whatcom County. Some ideas Council …
Families struggle to get by in Whatcom County
More studies are confirming what we already know – that it’s getting harder for families to get by in Whatcom County. This article, published by the Lynden Tribune, speaks to the United Ways claim of how local families struggle to make it in Whatcom County. United Way 2016 analysis shows recession isn’t over for many working families… Almost two-fifths of …
Whatcom County Council Studys How to Prevent Increased Train Oil Car Traffic. Will They Spend More to Study How to Prevent Increased Pipeline Traffic and Processing at Cherry Point, Too?
In 2016 the Whatcom County Council passed a moratorium on permitting for new projects related to fossil fuels in the Cherry Point Industrial Zone. At the same time the Council also approved spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a study to stop the expansion (growth) or exports of fossil fuels from these facilities, too. The focus of that study was …
Citizen Journalism: Current Status of Whatcom County’s Water Resource Planning Program
Minutes and opinion piece from the Whatcom County Planning Unit work over the previous month. This information has been submitted and provided to Common Threads NW from the combined works of Skip Richards and Roger Almskaar. Current Status of Whatcom County’s Water Resource Planning Program This report is the first in a monthly series. It will summarize the background and …