On August 16th, 2026, Bellingham City Council awarded a $40.9 million contract to Walsh Construction Company II, LLC “for the installation of upgraded air pollution control equipment at the Post Point Wastewater Treatment Plant.” While this is a major disappointment, RE Sources is committed to working toward a faster transition to cleaner and healthier technologies.
This “upgrade” project is the result of a 2025 settlement between the City of Bellingham and the Northwest Clean Air Agency (NWCAA). Per the agreement, Post Point is required to install additional air pollution controls and continuously monitor the carbon monoxide emissions for both incinerators to meet the required limits. However, this “upgrade” lets Post Point continue polluting in allowable amounts, and completely fails to recognize the harm of burning our sewage sludge in the first place.
Since 1974, Post Point has used incinerators to burn the sewage sludge that is derived when water is separated from solids in the treatment process. These incinerators are at risk of failure due to their age and years of deferred maintenance. They also spew climate-warming pollution into the air as a byproduct. With a growing population and a warming climate, it’s clear we need to take action to ensure effective, continued wastewater treatment for our community while addressing concerns for the cost, our climate and contaminants.
We’ve been advocating for the City to shut down the incinerators for years now. We proposed they look at short-term, temporary solutions such as landfilling to minimize pollution and reduce the use of fossil fuels while we explore more long-term options. This is a decision that affects everyone, and therefore should be made with input from our entire community, which did not occur. Their decision will impact the City, its residents, and our environment for decades to come.
Despite numerous opportunities to change course and to the dismay of many citizens, the City failed to even conduct a formal evaluation process of all the viable alternatives. They did not look at environmental impacts or public health concerns or economic consequences. Nor did they consider plant employees’ well being: a report received by a public records request documents unsafe working conditions and a hostile work culture at the treatment plant. They also shut down any public dialogue throughout the process. If these elements had been considered, and the process done transparently, we believe there would have been a different decision. Instead, the City chose to do only the bare minimum to meet the requirements from the NWCAA violation settlement.
Now, our community will need to face the challenges that come with this decision. Burning the incinerators at a higher temperature means using more fossil fuels (methane/natural gas), which will increase our climate emissions and cost more. Although as part of the NWCAA agreement they must continuously monitor carbon monoxide, a slew of other contaminants (dioxins/furans, mercury, particulate matter, and PFAS) will continue to be released into the air in unknown quantities. And the primary method for removing these contaminants from the emissions puts them into the liquid waste that is released into Bellingham Bay.
So, what’s next? We will be pressuring the City to monitor PFAS and other contaminants that are leaving the facility in the air and water. The City recently tested for PFAS in local watersheds—a hopeful note (although we’ve been testing for four years). But considering the nature of these forever chemicals and the fact we know they are present in our wastewater, we need to better understand where they end up. We will be engaging in the City’s Comprehensive Sewer Plan Update (and let you know how to, too), although this seems to equate to a plan to make a plan, and won’t be done until 2028—if it stays on schedule. We will also push the city to get the required Solid Waste Handling Permit as soon as possible, so that the City is held accountable for how it treats sewage solids.
Despite our best efforts, we have not seen the outcome we hoped for—but that does not mean this issue is settled. RE Sources and partners will continue to push for shutting down the polluting incinerators at Post Point with every tool we can think of and to work with our allies to advocate for sustainable wastewater treatment in Bellingham and beyond. We hope you’ll continue to join us.