http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/appeals-court-upholds-hood-canal-land-deal/
The Washington State Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld an agreement for a Hood Canal easement made between the U.S. Navy and the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR). In 2014, DNR accepted a $720,000 offer from the Navy for 50-year control of 4,804 acres of Hood Canal seafloor. A previous state-approved appraisal valued the lease at $1.68 million; the lower figure allowed the Navy to avoid congressional scrutiny of the agreement. Thorndyke Resource, a company developing a pier project on the canal’s western shoreline, sued the state and the Navy to overturn the easement agreement, which halted the pier project. Tuesday’s court decision upholds a Jefferson County Superior Court ruling that DNR “had the authority to grant the easement to the United States Navy,” according to a DNR news statement. A challenge to the easement in federal court was dismissed last September. Joseph O’Sullivan reports. (Seattle Times)
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |
