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My Ferndale News: County Council’s Cherry Point Plan is Killing Growth in Whatcom County

Andrew Gamble, a Marine and Safety Operations Advisor to Petrogas as well an Energy Industry Representative on the Whatcom County Business and Commerce Advisory Committee, recently wrote an op-ed for My Ferndale News speaking out against the County Council’s proposed changes for Cherry Point and the devastating impact they’d have on the county.

The changes “would be among the most radical and sweeping regulatory revisions in decades,” Gamble wrote in the piece. “And while the Council may seek to portray their efforts as narrowly targeted and impacting only the refineries at Cherry Point, the fact of the matter is that this proposal’s impact would be felt far beyond one critical sector.”

Gamble also discusses the air of uncertainty for business investment in Whatcom created by their proposed changes and the eight times Council has passed interim moratoriums on new fossil fuel projects at Cherry Point in the last two years.

“My experience working for operators at Cherry Point who have made substantial investments in this community, has taught me that an uncertain regulatory environment causes unintended ripple effects with negative impacts. Take for example, the recent cancellation of a huge renewable diesel project at Cherry Point that, while maybe not a direct result of the proposed Cherry Point amendments, they absolutely add to the general regulatory uncertainty that has permeated Whatcom County over the last few years,” Gamble wrote.

Added Gamble, “The new plan will make it next to impossible for these companies – which employ thousands – to keep up with their competitors outside Whatcom County who don’t have to bear the burden of such radical requirements.

Cherry Point operators would have no reasonable expectation to receive permit approvals of permit applications even for improved environmental technologies that could make operations more efficient or competitively sustainable, and therefore there will be no future investments that lead to more jobs and higher tax revenues.

And against this backdrop, the notion of any new energy companies throwing their hat in Whatcom County’s ring is laughable. The new regulations would also apply to the renewable energy operations present at Cherry Point. They, too, would face rising costs, restricted investment, and non-existent growth and expansion if the revised plan moves forward. Hardly the most effective way to transition to a cleaner energy future.”

Click HERE to read the entire op-ed in My Ferndale News.