Winter 2004
Keeping Tabs
by Joni Schniffner
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On a routine kayak patrol near Cherry Point in late August 2003, Wendy Steffensen maneuvered her kayak through a white dust on the surface of the water.
“When I first saw the white particulate on the water we were too far from Intalco (aluminum smelter) to see where it was coming from exactly,” Steffensen said. “I was curious and somewhat alarmed. I asked myself, ‘what is it and where did it come from?’”
Steffensen grabbed her digital camera and began snapping pictures.
As the North Sound BayKeeper, Steffensen acts as an industry watchdog, community educator and public advocate for the waters of Whatcom and Skagit counties. She spends her time on kayak and foot patrols, speaking to groups about development on Bellingham Bay, commenting on pollution discharge permits and educating the community through events such as beach walks. Without her presence, industry action could go unchecked and environmental problems in the bay could become unmanageable before they were noticed.
“The BayKeeper serves as a voice for the health of our local marine waters,” said Carl Weimer, executive director at RE Sources, a non-profit organization that specializes in environmental education and sponsors the BayKeeper program.
As BayKeeper, Steffensen is a member of the National Waterkeepers Alliance, an organization that acts as a national network of waterkeepers.
The organization has 50 keepers around the country. Its mission is to protect water bodies from polluters. The system’s advocates around the nation look after rivers, coastlines and lakes.
In 2003 Steffensen, 39, took over the BayKeeper position from Robyn du Pré, and moved into a corner office at RE Sources overlooking the bay.
“We hired Wendy because she has a great toxicology background, was already well up to speed on local issues and had worked with us as a volunteer on pollution permit research,” Weimer said. “In other words, she was the most qualified candidate for the job.”
Steffensen graduated with a master’s degree in environmental toxicology from Cornell University in 1993. Before arriving in Bellingham, Steffensen lived in Connecticut. In 1997 she ventured out west with her boyfriend on a road trip.
Steffensen has worked several jobs ranging from research assistant to environmental health specialist. She was an instructor at Western Washington University before starting her position as BayKeeper.
Steffensen’s interests are in politics and science and she said she was looking for a job that could bring the two together.
“What I wanted to do was work that would fulfill me,” Steffensen said.
As the only BayKeeper in Bellingham, Steffensen acknowledges the job can take up much of her time.
“It depends on how much you take on personally,” she said. “You take the job because you care and sometimes you want to give beyond your capability. My job is where my focus is.”
Steffensen said her job is to keep the Department of Ecology and industry honest. She dedicates the majority of her time to commenting on public documents concerning pollutants entering public waterways.
“It is important to make sure Ecology and industrial facilities know someone is watching,” Steffensen said. “My comments show that we have credibility and staying power among Ecology and industry.”
The permits that take the most of Steffensen’s time are the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits because they are the first regulatory defenses to prevent businesses around Bellingham Bay from polluting illegally in and around the bay, she said.
“The BayKeeper program has developed a reputation for providing strong scientific oversight on the variety of NPDES permits, shoreline permits and cleanup activities,” Weimer said. “Through this oversight, many valuable changes have been made in some of these permits to further protect the environment.”
Steffensen said she cannot do the job alone and relies on the work of volunteers to do research and help her keep an eye on the bay. Eileen Herring was the volunteer who worked on getting information about the condition of the water at Cherry Point. Herring provided Steffensen with the research that allowed Steffensen to identify the white dust she found near Cherry Point as alumina, a metallic, insoluble material used during aluminum refining.
Upon further investigation, Steffensen found that the dust was coming from a “clamshell” scoop that was unloading ore from a barge at the Intalco dock. Through Steffensen’s findings, Intalco and Ecology have begun working together to make certain that next time she, and others, will be kayaking through clean water.
Steffensen works diligently as a spokesperson to get people involved with the issues surrounding the bay.
“The (BayKeeper) is there to protect our health and our future, and if you live in Bellingham, the bay is integrally tied to both of those issues,” Herring said. “The bay is where we live. We eat, drink and breathe it; its life is critical to ours. We can take proper care of it and prosper, or we can abuse it at our own peril.”
Steffensen has made it her goal to invoke excitement about issues surrounding the bay. She encourages people to go patrolling with curiosity and implores them to investigate the things that catch their eye.