SHINE — A U.S. District Court ruling that dismisses a lawsuit against the state Department of Natural Resources does not represent a setback for a proposal to build a 4-mile-long conveyor belt and a 998-foot pier on Hood Canal to move gravel from a quarry to ships, developers say.
Judge Benjamin Settle last week dismissed a suit by project developer Hood Canal Sand and Gravel challenging the legality of an easement agreement between Natural Resources and the U.S. Navy that forbids development on aquatic lands in Hood Canal and which would appear to stand in the way of the project.
Dan Baskins — a spokesman for Thorndyke Resources Operation Complex, a subsidiary of Hood Canal Sand and Gravel — said the dismissal Wednesday of the suit in federal court in Tacoma does not stop the project nicknamed “pit-to-pier.”
It actually aligns the case in a more favorable way for the company, he said.
“When we started this action, we wanted to sue the Navy in federal court and DNR in state court but were told to bundle it together,” Baskins said.
“With this action, we are kicking the DNR case back to the state court, which is what we wanted in the first place.”
Neither the federal nor the state proceedings are currently scheduled, Baskins said, and he had no prediction as to when they will take place.
The state hearing will occur in Jefferson County Superior Court, where Baskins said the company will request that it be conducted by a visiting judge.
“There is a lot of politics surrounding this, so we think that we will get a fairer hearing from a visiting judge,” he said.
Both Natural Resources and the Navy declined detailed to comment on the matter.
“We’re appreciative of the federal court’s decision, but the matter is now potentially before a state court,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark.
“We’ll hold off on any additional comment until then.”
Navy spokesperson Liane Nakahara said the Navy would have no comment on the decision since the matter is still under litigation.
In July, Natural Resources and the Navy announced a 55-year conservation easement that would block development on more than 4,800 acres of state-owned tidelands along Hood Canal stretching from the Hood Canal Bridge south to just below the border between Jefferson and Mason counties.
The agreement between the Navy and the state forbids industrial or commercial development on the property and gives the Navy unrestricted access to the waters for training exercises.
It does not affect home construction, small business, recreational docks or fishing operations but forbids any new commercial or industrial overwater construction in the easement area.
The Navy paid Natural Resources $720,000 for the easement.
Thorndyke Resources wants to build a 998-foot pier on state-owned land 5 miles south of the Hood Canal Bridge to annually load onto barges some 6.75 million tons of gravel that would be transported from a quarry at Shine.
The permit process for the pit-to-pier project was begun in 2003 by Fred Hill Materials. After Fred Hill’s 2012 bankruptcy, Thorndyke, a Poulsbo company, took over the project.
The suits asks for nullification of the easement, an order that the company has preserved rights to develop the property and an injunction preventing the state and Navy from enforcing the easement.
On Aug. 5, Hood Canal Sand and Gravel filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County Superior Court claiming the easement pact violates the company’s rights to develop a gravel export facility in “arbitrary and capricious” ways.
Natural Resource’s position has been that the agreement seeks to prevent all industrial development and not one specific venture.
The suit names the Navy and Natural Resources as defendants, along with Navy real estate contracting officer Michael Brady, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Goldmark.
Baskins would not speculate as to when the project, which he said could create 2,000 jobs, would be operational, adding that the federal permit process has not yet begun.
The next step in the process is the publication of an environmental impact statement by the Jefferson County Department of Community Development.
The department is currently gathering information from Thorndyke for the environmental impact statement, which will take at least three more months to complete, according to Planning Director Stacie Hoskins.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.