Port: ABC Recycling has 30 days to meet environmental requirements — or leave - Cascadia Daily News

Port: ABC Recycling has 30 days to meet environmental requirements - or leave | Cascadia Daily News

Port of Bellingham officials notified ABC Recycling Thursday, Feb. 22 that the company was in default of its lease for failing to meet environmental requirements at its waterfront ship-loading operation.

The Canadian recycling company, which stores scrap metal near the shipping terminal and loads it onto vessels for export, has 30 days to come into compliance with the environmental requirements of its lease or vacate the waterfront, port Public Affairs Administrator Mike Hogan told Cascadia Daily News Friday, Feb. 23 in an email.

ABC Recycling officials said they anticipate meeting the requirements and continuing to operate within the port’s log pond and shipping terminal areas.

The port’s notice was triggered after ABC Recycling docked a barge at a dock at Colony Wharf Saturday, Feb. 17 without permission. ABC had asked the port for permission to berth a barge from Nanaimo loaded with scrap iron and steel, but the port had refused.

“I apologize for the mix-up and misunderstanding on the weekend with our barge,” ABC Recycling Chief Executive Officer David Yochlowitz told port officials Thursday, Feb. 22 in an email. “We did not realize Colony Wharf was part of the Port of Bellingham operations.”

At the port’s request, ABC Recycling moved its barge out of Bellingham and berthed it in Seattle, ABC Community Relations Manager Riley Sweeney said.

At a port commission meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 20, port Executive Director Rob Fix said his agency was not allowing ABC vessels to dock at its properties until the company satisfies the environmental conditions of its lease.

“We’ve got some requirements we put in place for ABC, to satisfy our concerns regarding environmental matters before we allow another ship in,” Fix said at the meeting.

The barge arrived in Bellingham to be off-loaded onto the next ABC export vessel, which could arrive in late March, Sweeney said.

At the commission meeting, Fix said the barge, which likely had no pollution controls, posed an environmental hazard to Whatcom Waterway because it could remain there for “several months.”

“The rain falls on it, and then it goes out into the bay,” Fix said. “I think that’s what would have been happening here.”

The 57-page lease ABC and port officials signed in mid-2022 calls for minimizing stormwater pollution. Ship-loading has resulted in excess levels of lead, zinc and copper in Whatcom Waterway due to an 11-foot gap between the terminal pier and the vessel, Sweeney said.

“The exceedances have gone down from the first ship to the latest ship,” which was loaded in September 2023, Sweeney said. “We’ve gotten better. This is a learning curve.”

Yochlowitz, in his email, assured port officials the company would be in compliance and avoid eviction.

“We intend to go above and beyond what is required to ensure that our operation is in full compliance with our lease agreement and will collaborate fully with you to meet the expectations of the regulators,” Yochlowitz said.

“Our team is already hard at work addressing solutions and actions to the stormwater-related items,” he added.

Recent dredging at the shipping terminal will enable ABC’s vessel to berth snugly alongside the wharf, to prevent excess spills into the waterway, Sweeney said. The company is also taking steps to reduce the amount of toxic sediments deposited along the waterway by its trucks.

Ralph Schwartz is CDN’s local government reporter; reach him at ralphschwartz@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 107.