City council debates contribution to USGS coastal storm modeling system

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Blaine city councilmembers recently voted 4-1 to contribute $10,000 to a countywide project that will allow the city of Blaine to benefit from a coastal storm modeling system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

At the January 27 public meeting, one of the action items on the agenda was an interlocal agreement with the city of Bellingham for support of USGS’s development and implementation of its Coastal Storm Modeling System across the Whatcom County shoreline. Presenting the item to city council, public works director Ravyn Whitewolf said that the initiative aligned with the environmental goals developed at last year’s city council retreat, and was important in light of the severe storm damage that occurred to the Semiahmoo Spit on December 20, 2018.

“The city of Bellingham on their own volition has been working with USGS folks on development of a coastal storm modeling system, now acronymed CoSMoS,” Whitewolf told councilmembers. “I went to a presentation in October that demonstrated some of the capability of that model and reviewed that with our city manager, and our combined thought was that this would be a very worthwhile undertaking to participate in.”

Whitewolf continued: “The organizations that are currently a part of this include the city of Bellingham as well as Whatcom County and the Port of Bellingham. If you look at all the shoreline areas of Whatcom County, those are the agencies that would be represented. The county and the city of Bellingham both are wanting to include Blaine and have agreed to a very modest participation of $5,000 a year for the next two years. The total cost for the project is $350,000 and the city of Bellingham, as I understand it, is contributing close to half of that.”

According to the USGS website, the CoSMoS program “makes detailed predictions of storm-induced coastal flooding, erosion and cliff failures over large geographic scales. CoSMoS was developed for hindcast studies, operational applications and future climate scenarios to provide emergency responders and coastal planners with critical storm-hazards information that can be used to increase public safety, mitigate physical damages and more effectively manage and allocate resources within complex coastal settings.”

After a motion was made and seconded to approve the agreement, councilmember Alicia Rule asked Whitewolf, “Have we also included a conversation with the tribes? If we could raise that, I think that’s important given the combination of the folks that are here and the location of the work.” Whitewolf said that she didn’t have the answer to that question, since she is not the project lead, but would inquire into the matter and report back to Rule. Following a question from mayor Bonnie Onyon, Whitewolf confirmed that the city of Bellingham is the project lead, and that Bellingham is seeking separate interlocal agreements with all the other parties.

A vote was then taken, and based on the audible votes, the motion carried. Councilmember Baldwin voted no, however, and proceeded to raise several objections to the agreement. “I’m quite familiar with coastal erosion,” he said. “I’m just wondering why the local agencies are contributing so much money to a federal agency to do its study. There’s just not enough information there for me to approve $10,000. It may not be a lot money to some people, but to some people it’s a lot of money. You know what I mean? But I know it’s a very important study. I’m just saying it’s the USGS – sort of their responsibility.”

Votes were then tallied after councilmember May said, “I don’t think I heard four ‘aye’ votes.” City clerk Samuel Crawford counted three yes votes, representing a majority of the five councilmembers present (Charlie Hawkins and Eric Davidson were excused). When Crawford asked May how he had voted, May said, “I’d like to hear a little bit more from councilmember Baldwin on what his position is on this.”

Baldwin then continued: “There’s not a lot of information there for me to authorize $10,000 of city money to a project that, when I see USGS on there, I think the federal government’s got a lot of money. Their job is modeling, is mapping. That’s what they are tasked with our tax dollars to do. ... Why is it that we’re being asked to pay for something that we probably already paid for?”

May asked, “Does staff have any answer?” Whitewolf responded, “I can only speak to what I witnessed at the demonstration that I saw. It was a very, very elaborate model. It was more than a map.”

Baldwin continued: “I am quite familiar with coastal modeling. One of the kids that works for me, his master’s thesis was on exactly that, coastal change and all that. It’s an actual hot-button issue in my profession. … Knowing storm surges and knowing those 100-year events that are like 10 years apart these days, I get that. I’m just saying that the federal government has the obligation. I mean, they won’t even let us go down below knee-high water and do a project without their permission. So if it’s their purview, then by God it ought to be their purview and not our dime. That’s just my prerogative.”

Mayor Onyon responded: “I wish you had spoken just a couple minutes before you did, when we were having some discussion on it.”

May then said: “I don’t believe we’ve gotten four votes on this yet. … Does staff have any comment as to any discussions … regarding whether or not this would be under the purview of the federal government to have taken care of this?”

Whitewolf responded: “The impression that I got from my conversation with Bellingham was they were trying to make the decision about whether to do Bellingham areas only or to do this countywide. I think that the choice of going countywide is something that benefits Blaine.”

May responded: “So our city will receive a good value for that $10,000?”

Whitewolf responded: “Yes I do, in light of the fact that we have Marine Park which is very sensitive, we have the Semiahmoo Spit, both sides of which are getting hit hard by the weather, and we had some terrible storm damage in December 2018. If this gives us more ability to plan, predict and prepare, absolutely.”

Rule then said: “I look at this as an economic investment. If we’re putting in $10,000 to a $350,000 project, that’s smart money. I agree with you in that I wish the federal government would pay in full, but in light of the fact that they are not, we can’t sit idle and do nothing because we have our own local beaches right here that are being affected by this. We’ve got to step in and take care of it. I share your frustration.”

Mayor Onyon and city clerk Crawford then confirmed with May that with five councilmembers present, the three votes from councilmembers Onyon, Rule and Steward were sufficient to carry the motion, regardless of how May wished to vote. Asked how he would like his vote to be recorded, May responded: “I’d like a ‘yes’ vote on my record on this.”

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