Bellingham joins Whatcom County for review of ABC Recycling’s shredder proposal

The city of Bellingham is joining Whatcom County as a partner for the required environmental review of a metal-recycling plant that has been proposed just outside the city limits, drawing criticism from nearby residents.

City Council members voted unanimously Monday night to seek a memorandum of understanding with Whatcom County in reference to an ABC Recycling application to build a metal shredder and recycling facility near the Lehigh Northwest Concrete factory off Marine Drive.

That location is on the waterfront northwest of Bellingham, in a part of unincorporated Whatcom County that is included in the city’s urban growth area.

Blake Lyon, director of the city’s Planning and Community Development Department, told the City Council that co-lead status “gives us a seat at the table” rather than simply adding comments as an affected party.

“As a co-lead, that is specifically limited to the preparation and review of those environmental documentations. We do not have decision-making authority when it comes to the project itself,” Lyon told the council at a committee meeting Monday afternoon.

Councilwoman Lisa Anderson said the panel discussed joining the county as co-lead for the environmental review in a closed session.

“It gives us a little agency to be able to look at what the impacts really are going to be or have influence on what gets looked at so that if it moves forward it’s going to be the best version of things going forward. But we’ll also hopefully be able to listen to our community maybe on what their concerns are and address that,” Anderson said.

Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund said she discussed the possibility of joining the environmental review with all city department heads and her administrative team.

“It was not (a role) that we stepped into lightly,” she said.

Jed Holmes, spokesman for Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu, told The Bellingham Herald that Sidhu welcomed the city’s participation as co-lead for the State Environmental Policy Act review of the project.

ABC Recycling submitted plans for a metal shredding facility near Bellingham in October 2023, ahead of a proposed one-year ban on new applications for heavy industry in a city’s urban growth area.

Whatcom County Council members rejected that ban by a 3-3-1 vote on Oct. 24, 2023.

Councilmembers Tyler Byrd, Ben Elenbaas and Kathy Kershner voted against the proposal and Councilwoman Kaylee Galloway abstained, saying that she was undecided.

That vote came as the city of Bellingham was considering tougher enforcement of its noise ordinance, a move prompted by ABC activity at the Port of Bellingham, where truckloads of scrap metal are being loaded onto vessels bound for the Far East to be melted into steel for new consumer goods.

Dockside operations create noise in residential areas surrounding the port, especially in the Sehome and South Hill neighborhoods.

Bellingham council members and other city officials have been fielding complaints for months about the sound of metal being loaded into ships, which continued well past midnight until ABC recently agreed to shorten its work day.

Many residents have been flooding the County Council with similar opposition, citing noise and possible environmental contamination from the business.

Port officials and labor representatives have been wary of the city’s attempts to crack down on the sounds inherent in industrial operations from a working waterfront.