Cherry Point coal terminal completes long-range plan, benefits county

HOW does a community successfully guide responsible development to create thousands of family-wage jobs, and protect the environment for future generations? With a long-range plan that properly balances these often-conflicting goals.

As leaders in Whatcom County, we are proud to say that the Cherry Point industrial area, about 15 miles north of Bellingham, is precisely one such success story. Yet a proposal for a dry bulk commodity shipping terminal that fits the county's long-range plan is under fire because its first commodity, coal, is associated with global climate change.

Let us give some context, then more about coal.

Places with deep water near a large, flat upland have special value, so for four decades Cherry Point has been home to two oil refineries and an aluminum smelter. These industries have provided our community with a steady source of family-wage jobs while exercising sound environmental stewardship. And for a quarter-century, the county has planned for a fourth and final industrial anchor here — a dry bulk commodities export-import terminal.

The county's shoreline-management plan, approved by the state Department of Ecology, has long reserved this area for water-dependent heavy industry.

Fortunately, SSA Marine, a company that began in Bellingham in 1949 and grew up to be a very successful, environmentally conscious, terminal-operating company now based in Seattle, wants to come "home" to this site and build what the community has long sought.

That terminal, called Gateway Pacific, will create more than 3,000 jobs for at least two years of construction, support 1,200 to 1,700 permanent jobs at full operations and pay about $10 million a year in taxes.

It couldn't have come at a better time.

Here in Whatcom County, nearly 10,000 citizens are unemployed. Our personal income is 16 percent below the state average, but our cost of living is like Seattle's.

Despite all this — the desperate need for good jobs, the millions in tax revenue and the environmental safeguards — opponents are determined to stop Gateway Pacific. Why? They don't like that along with commodities such as grain and potash, its principal cargo for now would be coal.

Ironically, nearly a third of the county's electricity comes from coal. In fact, half of America's electricity comes from coal. Nevertheless, these opponents wish to end the world's use of coal and they intend to make a point by derailing the Gateway Pacific Terminal.

Stopping the terminal will not stop China from using coal; the world has plenty. It will only stop China from using our cleaner coal, which has less mercury, sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Opponents say the coal China uses affects our air quality. So if they use our coal, our air will actually be cleaner.

Stopping this terminal will not even stop U.S. coal exports. The U.S. has at least 10 coal-export terminals and will export more. British Columbia has three coal-export terminals and all are capable of expansion. If opponents succeed in stopping Gateway Pacific, the coal trains will continue to run right past us up to Canada, which will get the jobs and tax revenue.

Frankly, what we should be concentrating on is taking care of our local environment. The project is starting an exhaustive environmental review under the oversight of federal, state and local agencies. Let's allow these agencies — and SSA Marine — to do their jobs instead of arbitrarily opposing something without all the facts.

As leaders of our area's chamber of commerce and the local laborers' union, we believe SSA Marine should be given the opportunity to complete its review process, a process that will allow them to demonstrate that this project can be a steady source of family-wage jobs, strong tax revenues and sound environmental management — in the tradition our community values.

Cherry Point is a proven model for building a strong economy. Let's finish what we started.