Neah Bay Dredging will improve Strait of Juan de Fuca, Salish Sea oil spill response

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Al Bergstein

Some of the most significant oil spills in Washington State’s history happened in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Salish Sea. Rescue tugs were stationed around 1999 during winter only months to protect the Strait. During the late 2000s, environmental activists led by People For Puget Sound pushed for a permanent rescue tug to be stationed at Neah Bay (and also at the East end of the Strait). With the support of then Representative Keven Van de Wege the State finally approved the tug at Neah Bay. The East end of the Strait still remains extremely vulnerable.

 Neah Bay Emergency Response Towing Vessel – Photo: Saltchuk Marine Shared Services

The Port of Neah Bay plays a pivotal role as a harbor for Emergency Response Towing Vessels (ERCivTVs) responding to distressed or disabled vessels, and as a designated harbor of refuge. The heavily trafficked Strait of Juan de Fuca sees various types of vessels passing through: cargo, passenger cruise, oil tankers, vehicle, fishing, and privately owned.

Neah Bay Marina

From 1999 to 2016, the stationed Neah Bay rescue tugs responded to 57 disabled vessels or those with reduced maneuvering ability. These incidents could have resulted in accidents or groundings leading to oil spills. The rescue tug is important to preventing spills, which would be extremely damaging to the area’s environment, economy and cultural resources, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.

This (ERTV) stands ready 24/7 on the northwestern Olympic Peninsula point in the Port of Neah Bay to quickly respond. However, challenging tides affect its readiness and the ability of this deep-draft vessel to navigate the channel.

Map courtesy of Army Corps of Engineers

That’s about to change with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to make navigation improvements by deepening the harbor entrance channel. A hydraulic pipeline dredge will deepen the 4,500-foot entrance channel to -21 feet from its current depth, allowing unrestricted access for ocean-going tugs, barges, and larger ships transiting Neah Bay during low tide.

The Corps of Engineers is expected to remove up to 30,000 cubic yards of never-before-dredged sediment material from the channel that’s expected to take two months to complete, pending weather conditions.

“This project will help to ensure that the rescue tug based at Neah Bay is ready to respond to marine emergencies on Washington’s coast,” said Rich Doenges, Southwest Region director for the Washington Department of Ecology. “We think the channel deepening represents a necessary step to prevent impacts to our state’s sensitive coastal environment and preserve our Pacific shorelines.”

The project falls under the Corps of Engineer’s civil works mission’s Continuing Authority Program (CAP) Section 107. It authorizes the Corps of Engineers to make navigation improvements for the non-federal sponsor, in this case the Makah Tribe. The $3.3 million project is mostly federally funded due to a cost-share waiver for Native American Tribes.

Seattle District Project Manager and biologist Juliana Houghton emphasized how the dredged material is perfect for reuse and will help fortify a nearby beach.

“We’ll place the beneficial use dredged material in an area along the shoreline that needs rehabilitation because of a lack of naturally occurring stream sediment,” she said. “The goal is to restore intertidal habitat by depositing the dredged material as beach nourishment.”

A Duwamish Services, LLC dredging crew connects a dredge pipe in Neah Bay, Dec. 8, 2023.
(Photo courtesy of Duwamish Services, LLC)

Deepening the Neah Bay entrance channel will reduce the emergency response tugs operating costs by minimizing the need for vessels to remain outside the bay in deeper waters during low tide. This will save an estimated $81,000 annually in fuel by reducing transit time during tidal changes.

The project first gained traction in the early 2010’s when the non-federal sponsor Makah Tribe contacted the Corps of Engineers Seattle District requesting a study to determine if navigation improvements for the Port of Neah Bay entrance channel were feasible.

“This project has been a long collaborative partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and we’re thrilled to see these improvements enhance the protection of the valuable Neah Bay ecosystem and improve safety for larger commercial and fishing vessels entering the port,” said Makah Tribe Chairman Timothy Greene, Sr.

Throughout the planning process Corps of Engineers officials coordinated, consulted and worked with federal, tribal and state agencies, including Environmental Protection Agency, National Marine Fisheries Services, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Makah Tribe, Washington’s State Department of Ecology, State Historic Preservation Office and Clallam County.

For more information about the US Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District, visit the district’s website at https://www.nws.usace.army.mil/ and follow on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/USACENWS/ and on X (previously Twitter) at https://twitter.com/SeattleDistrict.

Thanks to Louis.R.Velasco@usace.army.mil for the Press Release on this topic. Feel free to reach out to him for additional information as needed.

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Draft Environmental Review Released For Oil Terminals On Washington Coast – KUOW

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Al Bergstein

Hoquim and Aberdeen ports are being slated for crude oil shipments by possible building of oil shipment facilities for trains coming from the Bakken fields in North Dakota. The plan is for 1178 more oil trains and 638 more oil tankers to be added to the Gray’s Harbor area a year. These trains would be carrying huge quantities of highly flammable crude, much the same as the oil that destroyed the Canadian town of Lac-Mégantic. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-Mégantic_rail_disaster for more on that). The plan is for up to 1188 oil trains per year coming into the area. Additionally, the Draft EIS talks about significant impact to the Quinault Tribal fisheries in the area, as the tribe will not be able to fish while boats are present, which essentially is all the time. As stated in the Draft EIS: “Tribal members would not be able to fish when ships or barges are moving through the area.” I guess it’s up to the Tribe to determine whether this particular fishery is worth fighting for, or whether there are other areas they can fish that are less impacted. It will be interesting to see what the Tribe has to say on this.

Also of interest is the trade off that the cities see in adding this highly polluting industry to their area. We all know that Hoquim and Aberdeen have been one of the poorest locations in the State, ever since the collapse of the logging industry due to the disastrous federal policies of allowing raw logs to be shipped to Japan in the 1980s. This  turned what had been an industry that was highly functioning with extraction and higher value processing jobs into a third world country where only cutting and transport of logs was done, wiping out mills across the area in short order. The Federal government green light to massive cutting with no concerns of market conditions or any need for local mills,  led to a short lived boom until the resources were gone. Meanwhile the industry blamed environmental organizations for suing to stop the destruction of all remaining forests to save what little habitat was being left due to a lack of oversight and planning by the Federal Government.

And so the proposal is to continue to eat away at locations where salmon can be fished and create a very large possible oil spill concern, one that not only would impact the Gray’s Harbor area but also the entire Washington and Oregon coast, if one of these vessels sank during a large storm due to mechanical failure. The trade off is to give much needed jobs to at least some of the people in the Gray’s Harbor area. How badly is this oil needed with the downturn in the Chinese economy, and other issues? Is the trade off of possible destruction of our recreational use of the Pacific Coast worth it to support the oil industry and it’s desire to sell their product to China and Japan? You can read and comment on the draft EIS if you wish at the link below.

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/geographic/graysharbor/terminals.html

KUOW summary story:

The Washington State Department of Ecology has just released its draft environmental review of two proposed oil terminals on the Washington coast. A third proposed terminal has not yet begun the environmental review process. The terminals could be built in Grays Harbor, near Aberdeen, doubling current vessel and train traffic levels there. (KUOW)

http://kuow.org/post/draft-environmental-review-released-oil-terminals-washington-coast

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