PORT ANGELES — Chamber of Commerce president Dan Gase told a large crowd at the group’s weekly luncheon Monday that a few sections of the chamber’s Jan. 11 letter to state lawmakers regarding the abandoned graving yard project have been “taken out of context.”
The chamber’s letter to lawmakers stated: “I know you are very aware of the situation in Port Angeles regarding the graving dock.
“This impasse that the tribe and DOT (Department of Transportation) have reached has to be broken, and in the chamber’s opinion, it is time for some very forceful action.”
Gase told the luncheon audience that “forceful action” meant action to get legislators’ attention.
The letter, signed by Gase and chamber Executive Director Russ Veenema, was addressed to 24th District legislators Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam.
It also was sent to U.S. Sens. Patty Murray, D-Shoreline, and Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton.
The letter’s first substantive response came last Thursday from the tribe, when Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles rejected $2,500 in event money through the chamber.
The tribe had asked the chamber — which disburses hotel-motel lodging tax revenues to Port Angeles tourism-generating events — for $5,000 to defray costs associated with a tribal canoe gathering it is hosting this summer.
Project halted
Transportation announced Dec. 21 it was abandoning its graving yard project in Port Angeles after spending $58.8 million. The announcement followed a Dec. 10 letter from the Lower Elwha Klallam asking that all digging at the site be halted.
Gase said Transportation’s pullout is not fair to taxpayers or the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
The letter stated that because federal funds are paying for a majority of the graving yard project, the state Legislature should demand the tribe and Transportation use a federal mediator to develop a solution to restart the project.
Gase, co-owner of Coldwell Banker Uptown Realty of Port Angeles, said Monday that Transportation officials admitted they got the Port Angeles community into the dilemma, and the community has been “left out of the loop.”
The mediator is needed for a successful resolution, he said.