BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A document recently released said that ABC Recycling has exceeded contaminant levels in Bellingham Bay for at least 15 months.

The document, a Feb. 21 notice from the Port of Bellingham to ABC Recycling, has found them in default of their lease after multiple violations.  

My Bellingham Now previously reported on the notice. The letter states that they received a warning back in Jan. 2023 from the state Department of Ecology for what the report said were “egregious” water conditions during a visual inspection in Nov. 2022. Multiple petroleum spills and puddles observed triggered the comment and only one could be cleaned up during the inspection.

Image from Nov. 2, 2022 Dept. of Ecology inspection report. Oil sheen floating on top of a stormwater puddle in ABC Recycling’s stockpile yard. Courtesy of Dept. of Ecology.
Image from Nov. 2, 2022 Dept. of Ecology inspection report. Emulsified oil/petroleum mixed with stormwater in ABC Recycling’s stockpile yard. Courtesy of Dept. of Ecology.

This was the first inspection conducted since ABC signed a 15-year lease and had fully taken residence at the waterfront. Since then, the levels of copper, zinc, lead, turbidity and solids have not gone back into compliance consistently for each Ecology report. Turbidity and solids refer to solid or opaque materials suspended in the water that can settle in sediment and harm marine life. At one point, the turbidity level was approximately 34 times the legal limit.

Data table of contaminants in Port of Bellingham’s shipping terminal during ABC’s tenancy. This information differs from the data table in the Notice of Default. Courtesy of Amy Jankowiak and state Dept. of Ecology’s Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMR) Database.

The company recently submitted their applications to build an industrial metal shredding facility on their Marine Drive property near Locust Beach. The proposed facility has received strong community pushback since the plans became public, also triggering an organization called Save The Waterfront to distribute blue yard signs that say “Don’t Shred on Bellingham” throughout the city.

One of the signs posted in yards and on street corners throughout Bellingham proclaiming “Don’t Shred on Bellingham.” Photo by Joe Teehan.

ABC Recycling spokesperson Riley Sweeney stated “we’re here to save the planet” during an interview with My Bellingham Now. When asked what that statement meant, Sweeney said recycling is not optional when combatting climate change. 

“You can use it in a building, you can melt it down, you can smelt it forever and ever,” he said. “It’s something that we need to do. And it needs to be done. So, we’re here helping our community take responsibility for our materials. And we will continue to do that work.” 

Co-founder of Save the Waterfront Scott Jones is concerned with how ABC touted their industry work as ferrous metal recyclers to be what he calls “saviors of the environment.” He said that ABC uses greenwashing, or the practice of using green advertising to distance the company from less savory environmental impacts. 

“Yes, it is recycling,” Jones said. “But it’s being trucked in from all over British Columbia. It is being shipped halfway across the world to India and Vietnam to smelters, which are probably not regulated for environmental impacts.” 

Sweeney also outlined what the company plans to do to get back into compliance, saying the company is planning to pave a pathway for their trucks between their two sites of operation at the port: the stockpile yard and the loading dock. He said the company is installing quarry rocks and rumble strips at the storage site. A rumble strip was observed on said route during that Nov. 2022 inspection, but the report noted multiple trucks drove around the strips during the inspection.

Image from Nov. 2, 2022 Dept. of Ecology inspection report. Flatbed truck purposely bypassing the track out Best Management Practice (BMP) rumble strip while exiting the stockpile yard. Bypassing the track out BMP doesn’t reduce track out sediments and other pollutants from the stockpile yard. Courtesy of Dept. of Ecology.

ABC is the first Bellingham shipping tenant in 20 years and a commissioner for the Port Ken Bell said that ABC has brought in a lot of money and jobs to the Port of Bellingham. 

“[ABC] brings in over $750,000 a year just in warranties,” Bell said. “When there is a ship in, it brings in over $60,000 per day in wages for people who are working on the waterfront. That doesn’t even include the subcontractors and others that are working in the area when that happens.” 

Bell wants people to know the shipping terminal is important to our community’s economy, both historically and currently. The business of ABC at the Port has shown to the shipping community that Bellingham is “in business” according to Bell, attracting more prospective businesses. He said that the Port’s location allows longshoremen and other workers to work locally.

Complaints about the noise produced by ABC Recycling’s work from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. at the port are a driving point of Save The Waterfront. ABC’s operation is situated directly down the hill from Bellingham’s South Hill and Sehome neighborhoods as well as Old Town Bellingham.

“It’s a dilemma: we only have one shipping terminal and it happens to sit at the base of a large residential area,” Bell said. “But there is only one shipping terminal, and there is only one area where we can do that kind of activity where we can take commodities in and ship them out.”

He said any commodities made in Bellingham need a location to ship from, and the shipping terminal is the most likely location. Bell said most of the houses where the activists live were built by the shipping terminal’s business.

But the concerns over how ABC handles its business in Bellingham is still on the mind of Jones. Sweeney said this a learning experience, but Jones implied that the learning curve is bigger than Sweeney makes it out to be. Jones noted this is ABC’s first foray into shipping and storing metal and they’re doing it in a different country. One of the other violations the notice of default mentions is their inadequate insurance coverage.

“From what we can tell, they don’t know the environmental requirements [in Washington],” Jones said. “They don’t even know what the rules and regulations are, and they definitely don’t know how to follow them.” He said the company uses wordsmithing to make them look good.

Amy Jankowiak of the state Dept. of Ecology said all permits have requirements for addressing any exceedances of preset benchmarks. She said the stormwater at the shipping terminal goes into a lined and aerated stabilization pond before reaching the bay, passing through multiple systems like that pond along the way.

Image from Nov. 2, 2022 Dept. of Ecology inspection report. Stormwater vault located approximately in the middle of ABC Recycling’s stockpile yard. Vault was full of turbid water and sediment accumulation surrounded the vault. Courtesy of Dept. of Ecology.

“There’s always the potential for that pond to possibly discharge,” Jankowiak said. “Ecology is always concerned when we see levels that are above those benchmark exceedances.”

Ecology’s Scarlet Tang said in an email the department defines benchmarks as limits, and any level past that benchmark requires the permittee to do something to fix the problem. But Bell said the Port has never been in violation of said permit, even with the aforementioned exceedances. Even though the Port has had exceedances since 2017, the issues have increased after ABC took residence.

Bell couldn’t be specific on the Port’s relationship with their tenant, simply saying it has been “up and down.”

The Bellingham City Council will be holding a public hearing Monday evening on March 11 concerning the Port’s interlocal agreement with the City of Bellingham, specifically about park locations in the Waterfront District. The regular meeting will have a public comment period, but no Zoom calls will be allowed following “Zoom-bombing” at recent council meetings. This meeting will start at 7 p.m. in Bellingham City Hall’s Council Chambers.

A committee meeting earlier in the day will deal with ABC’s proposed metal shredding facility – specifically regarding the State Environmental Policy Act’s application to the facility. While no public comment will be allowed, this committee meeting is open to the public. It will commence at 1 p.m. also in the council chambers.

“Any time you get a letter from your lawyer, it’s a little spooky,” Sweeney said. “I anticipate that – provided we have continued good relationships with the courts – we will be able to meet their deadlines and get back to the people’s business of providing family wage jobs for our community.”

ABC Recycling’s stockpile yard from afar on March 4, 2024. Photo by Sam Kristofferson.

This article is a part of My Bellingham Now’s continued coverage on ABC Recycling and their presence in Whatcom County.