March 19 - 25, 2026
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Borderites earn New spa offers Home decor boutique opens in Blaine, page 2 natural pampering, page 5 All-Conference honors, page 7
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Birders flock to Wings Over Water festival Drayton Harbor Road repairs expected this summer By Grace McCarthy
s A 300-foot section of Drayton Harbor Road was washed out during the Nov. 2021 floods. Photo courtesy of Whatcom County
s Birders gathered to the 23rd annual Wings Over Water NW Birding Festival last weekend in Blaine and Birch Bay. The festival had a full slate of events, including building bird houses and other youth activities, an all-day birding expo, presentations and field trips. View more Photo by Ruth Lauman photos at thenorthernlight.com.
Demolition of last Northwest aluminum smelter marks end of era Ecology department and Alcoa are taking comment on cleanup of smelter near Ferndale By Tom Banse / Salish Current Aluminum maker Alcoa has started to demolish its sprawling Intalco smelter west of Ferndale. The multiyear demolition and cleanup project snuffs out any lingering hopes of reviving aluminum production in Washington and bringing back the hundreds of union jobs that disappeared when the smelter shut down in 2020. The demolition also represents the curtain coming down on an industrial era in the Pacific Northwest. The Alcoa Intalco smelter was the last one standing of what were once 10 thrumming, energy-gobbling aluminum factories spread across the region. Alcoa made no public announcement when it began the Intalco smelter demolition sometime last year. A company spokesperson confirmed the teardown is now well underway when queried this past week by Salish Current. “We’re approximately 45% complete at this time,” the spokesperson said via email. In late February, the state Department of Ecology published a long-awaited draft cleanup roadmap for the closed smelter.
Ecology has tentatively scheduled an online webinar and public hearing for April 8 about the demolition and cleanup plan. The agency will also accept written public comments through April 15. The Pacific Northwest aluminum industry arose in the 1940s after federal dams harnessed the Columbia River to produce a surplus of cheap electricity. “Over time, the industry grew to employ around 11,000 people in the Northwest and consume 3,150 average annual megawatts of electricity, enough to light three cities the size of present-day Seattle for a year,” wrote Paul Harrison in a brief history of aluminum making in this region posted by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. But when the hydropower surplus gradually turned to scarcity beginning three decades ago, electricity prices increased and the vast aluminum smelters closed down one by one. The Ferndale smelter was the next to last to open — in 1966 — and the last to shut down. Its forerunners spread out in Washington from Vancouver to Longview, Tacoma, Wenatchee and Spokane, and in Troutdale, Oregon, and Columbia Falls,
Montana, as well as others. The massive plants churned out rods and ingots which would go on to be shaped into everything from soda cans to Boeing airplanes. On the jobs review website Indeed, Intalco pot line operators described the work on the cavernous smelting lines as hot, dirty and physically demanding. They complained about long hours but praised (See Intalco, page 3)
INSIDE
A main road connecting Blaine to Semiahmoo that was reduced to one lane after the November 2021 floods is expected to be repaired this summer. Construction is estimated to cost $3 million, Mandy Feutz, Whatcom County Public Works communications specialist, wrote in an email to The Northern Light. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds will cover more than 90% of those costs. Drayton Harbor Road was reduced from two lanes to one lane near Shintaffer Road after a landslide washed out 300 feet of the westbound lane — requiring drivers to alternate two-way traffic when traveling the major road near Semiahmoo. Whatcom County began soliciting construction bids last week, and those bids will remain open until April 7. Feutz said construction is expected to begin this summer. Construction will require a full road closure of Drayton Harbor Road near Shintaffer Road for at least four months, according to the county’s website. Along with reconstructing the roadway, the project will also install stormwater infrastructure and relocate utilities. Whatcom County Public Works plans to share more information, including construction timeline and detour routes, closer to construction. Project information will be updated on the county’s website at bit.ly/47aoSh0.
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