SHINE — A federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Navy challenging a conservation easement that would block development of a 998-foot pier and gravel-loading project sought by Hood Canal Sand and Gravel.
U. S. District Judge Benjamin Settle on Tuesday granted a motion to dismiss, ruling that the Navy did not exceed its authority in granting the 55-year easement on state-owned tidelands along Hood Canal.
Hood Canal Sand and Gravel, also known as Thorndyke Resources, of Poulsbo seeks 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 on a 4-mile conveyor belt from a quarry at Shine.
The project as been known as “pit-to-pier.”
The easement is an agreement between the Navy and the state Department of Natural Resources announced in July 2014 that would block development on more than 4,800 acres of state land along Hood Canal, stretching from the Hood Canal Bridge south to just below the border between Jefferson and Mason counties.
Thorndyke filed actions against the Navy and DNR. The latter was dismissed by a Kitsap County Superior Court judge in July.
