MATS MATS BAY — The Mats Mats rock quarry is one of two sites being evaluated for a graving yard to construct state Highway 520 floating concrete bridge replacement pontoons.
“Mats Mats Bay and the Port of Grays Harbor are the two sites we are considering,” said John Milton, state Department of Transportation project director for the 520 bridge replacement project.
The Mats Mats quarry site, owned by Glacier Northwest of Seattle, drew loud opposition last year from the Mats Mats Coalition neighborhood group when it was proposed as the site to build Hood Canal Bridge eastern-half replacement pontoons.
That position has not changed.
“I was stunned they are going to focus on Mats Mats again,” said Rae Belkin, who has led the Mats Mats Coalition, representing about 100 Mats Mats homeowners, regarding various quarry-related issues the past four years.
“This would be the only heavy industrial new site that would be in a residential community.”
Belkin said she believes the much more industrialized Port of Grays Harbor would be a better place for such a project.
The coalition opposes the industrialization of Mats Mats Bay, about four miles north of Port Ludlow, and has actively monitored the activities of Northwest Glacier, which in the past has used explosives and noisy heavy equipment to mine rock at the quarry.