Environmental groups await next steps after Whatcom County hearing examiner rejected the permit for AltaGas fossil fuel projects
After weeks of consideration, a Whatcom County hearing examiner has rejected the permit for AltaGas’ 31 prior unpermitted and two new fossil fuel projects at the Ferndale Terminal on Cherry Point.
The decision, made March 31, requires the county to conduct an independent capacity analysis of the terminal expansion and redo its environmental analysis. The required capacity analysis is pending review, and next steps have not been announced by county officials.
The decision sides with six local environmental groups — Friends of the San Juans, Evergreen Islands, RE Sources, the Sierra Club, Washington Conservation Action and Whatcom Environmental Council — that appealed against the Whatcom County Planning and Development Services’ decision from September 2025 that proposed expansion projects had no “significant impacts.”
Bryn Lukowiak, AltaGas’ media relations manager, wrote in an email that AltaGas is reviewing the decision and the company remains “committed to safe and responsible operations.”
Friends of San Juans and the rest of the coalition said they plan to work closely with the county to conduct the independent capacity analysis.
The groups originally charged that the terminal expanded its capacity to ship fuels without first examining the potential environmental impacts, which is required by state law.
With a capacity analysis, the goal is to determine the amount of throughput the terminal can handle before negative environmental impacts occur.
There are several environmental concerns relating to the terminal, including the well-being of the local Southern Resident killer whales. Underwater noise, presence of vessels, ship strikes and pollution from scrubber discharges are among the list of concerns.
Cherry Point herring are also at risk; last winter, Earthjustice Senior Attorney Jan Hasselman said the population has collapsed in the last several years.
The terminal, built in the 1970s and a continuous point of interest to environmental groups, was purchased by Petrogas West in 2014.
Hasselman said this purchase came with an almost immediate set of improvement projects, shifting the business model and increasing product throughput.
RE Sources Co-Executive Director Ander Russell wrote in an email that there may be a misconception that AltaGas was not involved prior to the purchase.
Russell said that in fact, AltaGas — aka ALA Energy — partially owned Petrogas before becoming the official owner of the terminal in 2022.
Several representatives from the coalition shared their excitement for the decision with Salish Current.
“This is what vigilant protection looks like, and it’s a core value for Friends,” Friends of the San Juans Executive Director Eva Schulte said.
Schulte has been working at Friends of the San Juans since the organization got involved with the concerns at the Cherry Point Terminal, one of many large-scale projects being monitored, she said.
Pressures like global marine shipping are particularly high, Schulte said, urging nonprofits and community members to speak out.
“It’s important that small, community centered organizations like Friends continue to play an outside role in recognizing what’s happening outside our doors and in our waters.”
While the appeal was against the county’s Planning and Development Services, Schulte noted the amount of work overseeing refineries takes.
“We look forward to working proactively with county leaders to be attentive to how cumulative risks add up to something greater than their parts,” she said. “The county, because of the location of refineries and these kind of highly complex fossil fuel projects, have to play an outsized role that in many ways we don’t think is fair for local jurisdictions to have to take.”
She said she would prefer for the state to be involved in proposals like the ones at Cherry Point, which requires state environmental policies.
She also hopes the county will do more in the future to prevent fossil fuel expansion in the terminal until all the potential adverse consequences to people and the environment are understood and addressed.
Director of Whatcom Planning and Development Services Mark Personius wrote in an email that the county is currently unable to answer questions regarding the progress of the project while litigation pends. He said the department is working with its legal counsel to determine next steps.
EarthJustice Associate Attorney and co-counsel on the case Lydia Heye said this case stands out as the first public process in the county where the community has been able to weigh in on the environmental impacts from the expansion of the terminal.
“I think this is a win for the public,” Heye said, adding that the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) allows for a public comment period regarding the environmental impacts of a state action, in this case, the conditional use permit awarded to AltaGas in 2022 by the county.
“We hope that going forward the county and other actors, state actors, will continue to allow the public to weigh in on decisions that will have an adverse environmental impact and an adverse impact on their community,” Heye said.
One community member who testified was Charlie Brown of Bellingham, a retired chemical engineer interested in greenhouse gases and the mechanics of global warming.
In his testimony, Brown discussed the conjunction between voided air permits for volatile organic compounds and capacity expansions that enabled increased transshipment of liquified petroleum gases from Alberta to East Asia.
Schulte said the volunteer speakers were on the stand for hours and made a big difference in the coalition’s case.
“It was intense,” she said. “Charlie’s greenhouse gas emission perspective (mattered), because it’s cumulative what happened right there at the ALA Energy terminal, not to mention what’s happening around the larger area.”
Brown said he hopes this decision made by the hearing examiner creates a precedent to question past practices.
“I am happy with the decision, because it calls into question the growth or capacity expansion of the facility that has been done over the past 11 years,” he said. “I strongly commend the council’s position on taking ownership of their small part in a worldwide problem.”
He said he believes everyone, from community members to local, state and regional governments needs to do their part to see global change.
— By Libby Williams