Nearly three years ago, an application notice was quietly posted for the Ranch Quarry Surface Mine. This proposed 64-acre open pit rock quarry, located off South Pass Road in the foothills above Sumas, might look like just another industrial development on paper, but, on the ground, it would irreversibly reshape the water, health, safety, and character of northeastern Whatcom County for the next century.
The proposed quarry site is more than 90 percent surrounded by wells, wetlands, and vital watersheds that feed Saar Creek, home to salmon and trout, and part of a critical aquifer system that recharges the groundwater of much of the lower north county. Water once polluted cannot be easily restored.
From as early as the 1960s, the presence of chrysotile asbestos has been identified on the quarry site, and no comprehensive testing has been done throughout the entire project footprint. Quarry blasting and rock crushing at this site could expose this dangerous contaminant, releasing microscopic fibers into our air and water. Once released, asbestos remains in the environment indefinitely, and no community should be asked to accept such risks.
If approved, the quarry would operate six days a week, 12 hours a day, for up to the next 100 years, sending 50 to 100 gravel trucks up and down our quiet foothill roads daily. That’s a truck every four to eight minutes. These narrow roads were never designed to be industrial highways, and we will all face increased danger from heavy truck traffic and degraded road conditions. As of yet, the applicant has failed to produce any meaningful haul routes, so we don’t even know where these trucks will be going.
The application narrative calls for the systematic, top-down removal of three prominent mountain features, sitting 350 feet or more above the populated, narrow Saar Creek Valley. This destruction cannot be mitigated or replaced. It would alter waterflow, degrade air quality, lower property values, and harm local farms and small businesses that depend on clean water and quiet surroundings.
On September 26, 2024, Whatcom County Planning and Development Services (PDS) issued a letter of intent to issue a Determination of Significance under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) for the Ranch Quarry proposal, which will require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and subject this application to the highest level of scrutiny.
County and state law put people, the environment, agriculture, and watersheds before mining. If SEPA, the Growth Management Act, and Whatcom County Code are applied as written, we believe this quarry cannot legally proceed.
The 30-day comment period for the EIS will begin soon, and we encourage community members to write the PDS with their concerns. We will also be hosting a Community Meeting on December 4 from 5-7 p.m. at the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center in Kendall, and encourage all to join us.
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Andrew Clarke, Mark and Wendy Porter, Elli Harron, Kathleen Greenbaum, Erica Simons
Steering Committee of HOMEWhatcom — Homeowners Opposed to Mine Expansion: homewhatcom.com.
