From: Anna Martin [mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 11:31 PM
To: anna martin

Subject: acme gravel pit: Letters needed by 1/12!

Hi everyone,

We are at a critical point in our fight and could really use your help!  I'm asking you to write a letter to the County Planning Department (yes, again!) by Tuesday January 12.

For those of you just joining, Concrete Nor'west is proposing a rezone on 280 acres in Acme.  Next, they plan to propose a mining project--in dangerously close proximity to two salmon bearing rivers, 8+ small family farms, and many residents.  Once the rezone goes through, there is not much standing in the way of the largest gravel pit Whatcom County has ever seen.

County Planning determined that the rezone was not significant and required no environmental studies.  We disagreed and, thanks to the overwhelming amount of concern letters received, County Planning changed their decision to a Mitigated Determination of Non Significance (MDNS).

So here we are now asking you, once again, to voice your concern over this decision.  The desired outcome is a DS or Determination of Significance.  A DS would require a full Environmental Impact Study and it may even halt the project all together.

Click Here to Read More

Please write to: Tyler Schroeder, Planning Supervisor This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it <mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >    Make sure to reference file: SEP2009-00132.
Deadline is Tuesday, January 12

Possible points to address in your letter--choose a few that really speak to you:

*   The MDNS is not sufficient because it fails to address the cumulative impacts of the entire project.
*   The rezone and the proposal to mine must be considered together and reviewed in the same environmental document since they are interdependent parts of a larger proposal and depend on the larger proposal as their justification or for their implementation -- WAC 197-11-060(3).
*   A phased review (first the rezone and then the mining) of this project in not appropriate because:  1)  Under WAC 197-11-060(5) it would merely divide a larger system into exempted fragments and 2) it would segment and avoid present consideration of proposals and their impacts that are required to be evaluated in a single environmental document
*   Historically, land use designation has served as a form of public security.  This abuse of policy threatens the water supply to many neighboring farms which in-turn, has an impact on local food security.
*   The dust, sediment, vibrations, runoff, and changes to water temperature via deforestation will impact the endangered and genetically unique Chinook population of the South Fork Nooksack making the $60 million dollars of local, state and national funding through the WRIA 1 Salmonid Recovery Plan null and void
*   A rezone to Mineral Resource Lands will encourage the act of mining and the environmental impacts need to be addressed right now.   According to WAC 197-11-060(4) "a proposal's effects include direct and indirect impacts caused by a proposal, as well as the likelihood that the present proposal will serve as a precedent for future actions.  For example, adoption of a zoning ordinance will encourage or tend to cause particular types of projects."
*   We demand that County Planning issue a Determination of Significance and complete an Environmental Impact Statement.

Let's take back this process we call democracy.  The voice belongs to you and me NOT the interest of Big Money.  Please pass this on...

In advance, thank you!!

Anna Martin
Osprey Hill Farm
360-595-9134
and Friends of the South Fork Nooksack River Valley

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