PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County Superior Court judge is considering whether to allow the state to join the Makah tribe’s lawsuit to remove the old ferry Kalakala from Neah Bay.
The state Department of Natural Resources has given Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues until Sept. 1 to move the former icon of Seattle progress from where it is currently moored on state-owned aquatic lands leased to the Makah.
Meanwhile, the DNR is seeking to join in as a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by the Makah in late June against Rodrigues.
The suit demands that Rodrigues tow the disabled ferry from Neah Bay and pay for repairs to the tribe’s dock caused when winds blew the art-deco vessel into pilings.
In a hearing Friday before Superior Court Judge Ken Williams in Port Angeles, Assistant Attorney General Terence Pruit said the state and tribe are threatened by “potentially huge economic losses” if the ferry breaks free of its moorage or sinks.
The state has done everything it can to get Rodrigues to move the Kalakala and is left with no alternative but to get the court’s assistance, Pruit said.
“We are going to move the Kalakala,” Rodrigues told the judge, saying he plans to do so by the end of this month.
The judge is considering the state’s motion to join the suit and said he will issue an opinion sometime this week.