- May 13
- 5 min read
Updated: May 16
by Rick Eggerth
May 13, 2026
In the beginning, all we knew was abundance. Azure skies, with little taint of industry, freshened and stimulated our lungs and strengthened our bodies with every breath. Rivers and lakes, clean and pure, offered water that tasted like nectar of the Gods. Trees tickled the clouds and spread to a limitless horizon. And so many creatures lived along us, breathing the same air and drinking the same water, in beneficial coexistence. And our magnificent Pacific Northwest yielded salmon, the multitude of multitudes, that fed and nurtured soul and being and spirit and life for millennia, in ways we could not comprehend but that was more than sufficient for all those who accepted the natural system. And orca, our brethren people in the water, helped us comprehend how to live as Mother Earth intended.
Colonials bid farewell to the old world and set out to a new world, an unfathomable paradise, Eden unbound, unlike anything seen before, an efficient system of coexistence and symbiosis, finely honed and tuned to fulfill every need, every desire. But when we ate of this metaphoric tree of knowledge, we saw not that we were naked; rather, we saw that paradise could be unmade, exploited, and re-purposed to service insatiable ambition and avarice.
Mother nature could be raped and abused for minerals and fossil fuels, fouling air and water as they were re-made into unnatural substances that pollute and sicken and kill.
Trees could be cut, and burned and shaped, and the Earth, scalped and deprived of its lungs and nervous system, like Samson shorn of his locks, is made weak and ill.
Creatures could be hunted and killed and disposed of as annoying because they fell in the way of exploitation and occupied exploitable lands or resources.
And so we became modern, technological, educated, and so far removed from Eden that in our hubris we saw what we have made and somehow thought it was God’s ultimate creation. A creation made from unnatural parts obscenely stitched together, obscenely ceding power and wealth and honor to those who took the most. Empowering them even more with laws favoring not the world made to love and support us, but rather those who controlled the machinery and systems that reward plundering our natural home and family.
Though misuse and abuse is nothing to be proud of, those most responsible for the worst damage revel in taking ever more. Thus the damage continues, lessons unlearned, grace lost, compassion hard to find. As the powerful constantly assault and degrade our environment, resistance demands swimming upstream against a raging floodtide.
What can be done? How can anyone, or any one group, stand against such unrelenting pressure and power, much less beat it? How can we not be fatigued and dispirited and depressed by constant attacks, lies, disinformation, regulatory rollback, court defeats, and not feel that resistance is indeed futile?
And yet, in the face of such overwhelming force, hope abides. Not because any one community or organization can change the course of Federal ravage on the national stage. But local action is still possible. And sometimes, in some ways, local action becomes local impact that can evolve into local change. Especially impacts flowing from people and groups joining together with shared purpose that magnifies their efforts. And as local change accumulates, the results may eventually extend beyond local communities, maybe even to the national arena.
While some may call this fanciful thinking, it had much to do with creating the Whatcom Environmental Council. In the full fury of a Force-5 hurricane of Federal pressure, in 2024 the Whatcom Environmental Council was born. In what some may view as the equivalent of spitting into a gale blowing full in our faces, a group of retirees assembled to pool their experience, expertise, knowledge, and passion, to declare their intent to try to make a difference. A difference for those living and working in Whatcom County. A difference for those who care about this special place that we all are lucky to call home.
But, inevitably, gathering together to try to make a difference raises the question: Have we succeeded? Somewhat startlingly for such a young organization, we have. We wrote dozens of advocacy letters to cities and the county on a myriad of subjects, at least a few of which actually helped facilitate a change of mind into better local governance. We hosted social/educational events on wonky-yet-critical subjects like why further developing Bellingham’s south Samish Crest area makes no sense and why shutting down incinerators at Post Point will help us all breathe easier.
And then, when the need was greatest, we did not fear litigation. We were one of six environmental non-governmental organizations that appealed the County’s decision to permit 31 projects built by AltaGas at its Cherry Point transshipment facility, despite AltaGas ignoring the laws demanding project permits—all while County Council had imposed a moratorium against such expansion by Cherry Point industries. And despite the County, once learning of the 31 unpermitted projects, not objecting to what had surreptitiously been done. And we won! The Whatcom County Hearing Examiner roundly criticized the County for accepting without independent thought what AltaGas whispered in its ear and ordered the County to go back and give independent environmental review to the projects.
Nor was WEC a silent bystander during the three-day proceeding before the Hearing Examiner. A key witness—perhaps the key witness—was WEC’s own David Stalheim, a retired municipal planner, former head of Whatcom County’s planning department, who thoroughly dissected the flaws in the County’s conduct, and why those actions require remediation. Without him, who knows who would have been found to stand as an opposition witness against the political power and weight of the County and the corporate power and money of AltaGas?
And now litigation has again found WEC, as we appeal to Washington State’s Growth Management Hearing Board the City of Bellingham’s Comprehensive Plan Update, approved by City Council just last December. This Update fails to curb sprawl, does not limit greenhouse gas emissions or traffic congestion, and does not promote maximum development limitations at Lake Whatcom, literally the water from which we drink.
Unfortunately, the truism that lawyers ain’t cheap still holds true, so to do the work WEC was created to do for the people of Whatcom County, we now must ask for help from those very people. As noted above, people and groups joining together with shared purpose can work to yield benefit for all. So we ask that, if these issues WEC is confronting for the benefit of all are important to you, please let us know with your financial support. Here’s a donate button:
We literally cannot do this work without you. If helping to plant a small immoveable object in the path of an unstoppable force feels important, please, let us know by introducing us to your wallets. Meanwhile, we will continue to advocate, educate, and litigate as best we can. Because now, perhaps more than ever before, local change matters.
