More pilings being yanked from Port Townsend Bay
By Jeff Chew, Peninsula Daily News
Print This |
Email This
Recent Headlines
Komen drops plan to cut Planned Parenthood grants -- 2/3/12 -09:17 AM
Crane removes blast debris from Sequim marina [**Video**] -- 2/3/12 -02:18 PM
PENINSULA SPOTLIGHT WEEKEND: Olympic Theatre Arts stages ‘Spitfire Grill: A Musical’ -- 2/2/12 -07:02 PM
WEEKEND: Super Bowl blues? Plenty to do around Peninsula -- 2/2/12 -05:34 PM
WEEKEND: First Friday Walk connects community with creators -- 2/2/12 -05:22 PM
"Already, we have pulled about 4,200 tons or material from the [Olympic] Peninsula. This is just a continuation of that," said Doug Sutherland, state commissioner of public lands, adding that he plans to visit the work site some time next month, and campaign in Port Townsend in October.
Sutherland is running in the Nov. 4 general election to keep his seat overseeing the state Department of Natural Resources. Resources' aquatic lands division is overseeing the pilings removal project.
Creosote, a distillate of coal tar often containing more than 300 chemicals, was used as a wood preservative during much of the past century for such things as telephone poles, railroad ties, piers, docks and floats.
Chemicals in treated wood materials, such as those on beaches or old dock pilings, can be harmful and even toxic to marine species, say Resources officials.
Quigg Bros. anchored its 120-foot crane barge near Port of Port Townsend's Boat Haven Marina, just outside the jetty, on Wednesday, to dismantle the so-called transfer station, where freight was once taken from trains and transferred to ships.
A stretch of the old railroad trestle and other pilings will be removed from the shore fronting the port's ship yard and a stretch of Larry Scott Memorial Trail.
Quigg Bros. removed pilings in Port Angeles Harbor in early 2007.
Caicos Corp. last year pulled dolphin pilings fronting the old Quincy ferry dock downtown.
Pilings removal
The project will include removal of pilings from Indian Point, Old Fort Townsend State Park south of Port Townsend, Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island and the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building's old pier on the Lower Hadlock waterfront.
Pilings also will be removed from Protection Island, off the mouth of Discovery Bay, and at Glen Cove, south of Port Townsend.
The project costs $850,000, Sutherland said.
Jefferson County pilings removal projects planned to take place in 2009 include sites in Port Ludlow, Point Whitney near Brinnon, Dabob Bay and Quilcene Bay.
Once that work is complete, the state will have invested about $2 million in Jefferson County.
The statewide creosote debris removal program received $4 million for 2007-09 biennium.
Gov. Chris Gregoire's Puget Sound Initiative identified creosote removal as a high priority by adding $2 million for Resources to expand its program and include removal of derelict pilings throughout Puget Sound.
Gregoire hopes to clean up the Sound by 2020.
Resources's creosote inventory and removal program identifies and removes creosote and other treated wood materials from beaches through Puget Sound's seven northernmost counties — Jefferson, Clallam, San Juan, Island, Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish.
Resources is working on the project with the state Parks and Recreation Department, Northwest Straits Commission, Marine Resources Committees, and community groups such as Beach Watchers.
________
Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: August 20. 2008 9:00PM