Bellingham reaches deal over wastewater plant’s air-quality violations
Bellingham has reached an agreement with a regulatory agency in regard to pollution from incinerators that burn sewage at the city’s Post Point wastewater treatment plant, city officials announced Monday night.
City Council members voted unanimously Monday to allow Mayor Kim Lund to enter into the settlement.
Monday’s agreement stems from a March 27, 2024, notice of violation issued by the Northwest Clean Air Agency, which said Bellingham’s wastewater treatment plant is violating air quality standards.
According to the agreement, which was provided to The Herald, it is a “settlement of disputed issues of fact and law” and not a decision about the air-quality agency’s original notice of violation or an admission of guilt or responsibility on the city’s part.
Northwest Clean Air Agency spokesman Seth Preston told The Herald the city is pledging to keep improving air quality at the site and testing to monitor its emissions.
“The agreement requires the installation of additional air pollution controls and the operation of carbon monoxide continuous emission monitors for both sludge incinerators to meet applicable emission limits,” Preston said in an email. “The agreement includes a schedule for installing those added pollution controls to make continuous air quality improvements during the next five years. NWCAA will be following along as the work is done.”
Lund told The Herald that city officials “worked closely” with the air agency to understand and correct the violation.
“The agreement fully resolves the notice of violation based on the city’s commitments in the settlement. It does not include any finding that the city did anything wrong. Instead, it confirms the timeline and steps for the significant air-quality upgrades already underway at Post Point, along with a clear schedule for continued progress,” Lund said in an email. “With the notice of violation resolved, the city remains focused on improving air quality, maintaining dependable treatment services, and planning responsibly for the future of this essential community facility.”
Sewage from Bellingham and other parts of Whatcom County goes to the city’s Post Point Wastewater Treatment Plant near the Fairhaven waterfront.
Treated water is pumped into Bellingham Bay, and the leftover solid material is burned in incinerators that were installed in the 1970s and 1990s.
In 2022, Bellingham considered replacing those incinerators with a process called “anaerobic digestion,” which uses microbes to eat the waste and leave a biodegradable residue.
Costs for that project soared with post-pandemic supply shortages and inflation to a price tag that could approach $1 billion. The plan was scrapped in favor of making the existing incinerators cleaner and more efficient, a project that is ongoing.
Cost of that effort is estimated at $40 million, with an estimated completion in 2030.
This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 3:35 PM.
