U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, left, looks over revetment repair plans with Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter and city engineer Jonathan Boehme, right, during a visit to Ediz Hook in Port Angeles on Friday. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, left, looks over revetment repair plans with Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter and city engineer Jonathan Boehme, right, during a visit to Ediz Hook in Port Angeles on Friday. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

Kilmer visits port, Ediz Hook where federal grant dollars are working

Port’s log yard to be paved, funded by federal grants

PORT ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer visted Friday the site of a project local officials say will help bolster the local log yard’s efficiency and help the local timber industry.

With the help of two federal grants, the Port of Port Angeles plans to pave and improve its log yard which the project’s supports say will help support the local timber industry.

The facility in Port Angeles is the only industrial facility with a waterfront on the Olympic Peninsula that can process whole logs coming from Canada and Alaska, Kilmer’s office said. The log yard also moves logs from the Peninsula to manufacturers elsewhere in Washington state and Oregon using barges.

With the grant funding, the Port of Port Angeles hopes to increase its efficiency and barging capacity to help support the local timber industry.

Kilmer — meeting with Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter, Port of Port Angeles Executive Director Geoff James and Port Angeles City Engineer Jonathan Boehme — toured the Port of Port Angeles’s log yard Friday to see firsthand what needed to be done.

After meeting with them, Kilmer also visited Ediz Hook, where a revetment repair project was underway, funded by another $1.5 million grant from the Army Corps.

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer toured sites where federal grant dollars were being put to work. His visit included a tour of the Port of Port Angeles log yard, where log yard operator Jeremy Weller gave Kilmer a crash course in using a log loader. (Peter Segall/Peninsula Daily News)

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer toured sites where federal grant dollars were being put to work. His visit included a tour of the Port of Port Angeles log yard, where log yard operator Jeremy Weller gave Kilmer a crash course in using a log loader. (Peter Segall/Peninsula Daily News)

The log yard on Marine Drive, what the port calls its Intermodal Handling and Transfer Facility, which supports the timber industry on the North Olympic Peninsula and elsewhere, Kilmer’s office said in an October press release.

“My approach through all of this is, particularly having grown up here, one, I recognize that the port is an extraordinary driver of economic opportunity and, two, we need more economic opportunity,” Kilmer said Friday, standing in the deep mud of the log yard as trucks from local mills continued to make their deliveries.

“So I think without exception where the port has pursued more federal dollars I’ve supported it because I want to see more jobs here,” Kilmer said.

An $8.6 grant was awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program and according to the Port of Port Angeles will be used to complete repairs and improvements to a 112-year-old dock and pavement improvements to increase load capacity for about 10 acres of an existing 30-acre cargo yard.

According to James, in addition to the $8.6 million from the Department of Transportation, the port has also secured $7.5 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for stormwater mitigation which together will be used to pave the log yard and improve docks used to load and offload timber.

The project will break ground in 2026, James said, and will first undergo and extensive planning, consultation and permitting process with the Army Corps.

The log yard will still be able to operate during the duration of the construction, which should be completed within a year, James said, but the yard’s capacity will be reduced until the project is finished.

“We’re probably going to have to turn away a lot of customers,” James said.

Kilmer and U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, all advocated for Port Angeles to be the recipient of the grant and in May Kilmer sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urging support of the Port of Port Angeles’ grant proposal.

“The Port of Port Angeles is the anchor of the economy in the Olympic Peninsula and connects Washington state to the rest of the world, sending our goods to market and employing thousands of workers in Clallam County,” Murray said in October.

“This grant is going to support good-paying jobs for Washington families, and help us free up supply chains so we can get goods on our shelves faster while keeping costs down.”

Cantwell also cited the need to strengthen domestic supply chains and said improvements paid for by the grant will, “solidify the Port’s ability to directly support good-paying timber and manufacturing jobs on the Olympic Peninsula for decades to come.”

Kilmer, who grew up in Port Angeles, has represented Washington’s 6th Congressional District since 2013 and was re-elected in the recent midterm. The 6th District covers the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas and most of the city of Tacoma.

________

Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Poplars to be removed in spring

Boat Yard expansion part of larger project

Jeffco Aquatic Coalition launches pool survey

Results intended to inform design process

A snow-covered Mount Angeles is seen from Black Diamond Road a few miles south of Port Angeles. While the Peninsula has seen temperatures below freezing this week, a warming trend is expected by this weekend with highs reaching the upper 40s and overnight lows in the 30s. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Winter snowscape

A snow-covered Mount Angeles is seen from Black Diamond Road a few… Continue reading

JoAnn declares bankruptcy; Port Angeles store to close

The Joann fabrics and crafts store in Port Angeles… Continue reading

Cheri Sanford of Port Angeles, right, hands a piece of metal debris to her grandson, Damien Millet, 9, after it was located with a metal detector and dug from the sand at Hollywood Beach in Port Angeles on Wednesday. They were combing the beach in search of whatever hidden treasures they could find. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Beach combing

Cheri Sanford of Port Angeles, right, hands a piece of metal debris… Continue reading

Six Peninsula school measures passing

Sequim voters approve bond, levy

Port Townsend, Chimacum pass school levies

Funds will support facilities, supplies, transportation

Counties can collect up to $1.80 of property tax per $1,000 of assessed value, but they are only allowed to increase their property tax collection amount by 1 percent each year, excluding new construction, without voter approval.
Clallam already eyeing 2026 cuts

If county can’t raise revenue, it may cut employees, services

Port Angeles School Board to conduct community conversation

Port Angeles School Board members will be available to… Continue reading

After-school art program returns to Stevens Middle School

Let’s Make Art, a free after-school program at Stevens… Continue reading

Department of Licensing offices to be closed

PORT ANGELES – The Department of Licensing office of the Clallam County… Continue reading

Voters approving all Peninsula school measures

Sequim bond passing with required supermajority