Bob Baker, the leader who stepped up to save our Cedar River Valley

Bob Baker speaking to Renton City Council on March 3, 2025.  His presentation can be found here.

In October 2017 a worried resident posted a social media warning for their community  that a hot asphalt plant was proposed for Maple Valley Highway, just a couple hundred feet from the Cedar River.  Bob Baker who lives nearby soon found himself  joining a group of concerned citizens to stop the plant from being built at that location.

Mr. Baker is not an asphalt or soils expert by profession, but he is an avid reader and a quick study, and he soon began learning all he could about the potential impacts of the asphalt plant on the sensitive Cedar River Valley.

As he learned more through document searches and self-study, he began seeking out experts who specialize in the immediate and long-term effects of Asphalt Plants. He spoke with experts throughout the US, OSHA and even the UK to get the proper training on how these plants affect air, ground, water, human quality of life, fish and wildlife, plant life, and traffic.  His ready-recall of these details is striking. Whether he’s telling you the specific carcinogenic contaminants in recycled asphalt or how much water is needed to extinguish an asphalt fire, he knows the names and numbers without looking at his notes.

With his intense immersion into the science and engineering, and his easy-going and organized personality he soon found himself emerging as the natural leader for the  “Save the Cedar River” group working to protect the valley.  He became a steady, reassuring voice on the group’s website and Facebook page, consistently sharing credit and expressing gratitude while keeping the group accurately informed about victories and challenges.

He helped lead fundraising drives that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for legal appeals, and then personally attended each trial.  He consulted with lawyers and judges along the way, learning more during each legal episode.

He also steadily reached out to elected officials throughout the region, seeking assistance wherever he could find it.  His friendly and well-informed approach, along with his resilient sense of humor, helped him naturally connect with elected officials. He maintains amiable relationships with even the electeds that won’t help him, although he acknowledges that politicians that publically promise to help– and then don’t– can try his patience.

He was such an exceptional leader of this effort that his work was soon recognized by other communities throughout the United States, and they began reaching out to him.  He’s traveled and given his time to assist communities in New Jersey, New York, Michigan, and elsewhere that have had concerns about asphalt plants.  But he always gave top priority to halting the asphalt plant here in the Cedar River Valley, the one he said was the hardest to stop.

He’s not opposed to the production of asphalt, and has no hard feelings for Lakeside Industries, the applicants for the Maple Valley Highway asphalt plant.  Instead, he feels that this was the wrong location for the asphalt plant, and that the various government processes that should have said “no” to the location broke down for various reasons that he can itemize if asked.  He’s grateful to Lakeside Industries (which he says is a well-run, locally-owned family business) for maintaining open dialogue with him through the entire controversy, and for ultimately working with him on a solution that satisfies the community.

Yesterday I asked him what he was going to do now that the threat of the Asphalt Plant in the Cedar River Valley is behind us, and his answer delighted me.  He said he is going to begin dedicating more time to helping King County determine how to finish and close the nearly-full Cedar Hills Regional Landfill, and move on to a new system for disposing of King County’s trash.  He’s already studying all the options, and he’s in contact with decision makers.  He’ll soon be our community’s go-to contact to ensure Renton and Maple Valley do not have to carry an outsized burden in disposing of King County’s trash, the way we have for decades.  I’m grateful to him for stepping into this key role, and I can’t think of anyone more ready and able to advocate for us.

Note: For further background on this issue please see my earlier blog posts here.