PORT ANGELES — The Navy is exploring a fourth alternative for its $16.7 million submarine-escort vessel dock project on Ediz Hook.
The site of the fourth alternative will not be released until this fall, according to Navy spokeswoman Liane Nakahara, who said it will be part of the project’s environmental assessment.
She said it will be within the area of the Port Angeles Coast Guard station on Ediz Hook.
The alternative will be added in light of public comments critical of the existing proposal.
The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, scuba divers and the Puget Sound Pilots have expressed ecological and operational concerns about three locations the Navy has suggested for the project near the Coast Guard station.
Release of the draft environmental assessment will be followed by a 30-day comment period.
Dana Warr, spokesman for the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle, said late Friday he was unaware of a fourth alternative.
An environmental assessment is required under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
“As part of any NEPA process, possible alternatives could change,” she said.
The Navy remains on track to build the dock in summer 2016, Nakahara said.
Up to seven escort vessels from 33 feet to 250 feet and their crews would bivouac there as a break while accompanying submarines from Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton to the Pacific Ocean for training exercises.
The vessels would consist of blocking vessels, patrol boats and screening vessels.
The project would include an 8,200-square-foot building with sleeping quarters and offices, an armory building and a fuel distribution system.
Alternative one of the existing proposal would have a pier built over an artificial reef about 100 yards west of the base entrance at the tip of Ediz Hook.
The Lower Elwha tribe has expressed concerns about its impact on a nearby eelgrass bed, which is a prime marine life habitat and food source, and the impact on an artificial reef teeming with sea life that would be under the dock, tribal Natural Resources Manager Doug Morrill said last Friday.
The Puget Sound Pilots, which escorts vessels through the Strait of Juan de Fuca from a dock close to but outside the Coast Guard station’s entrance, also have expressed concerns that Navy dock construction and activities would disrupt the pilots’ operations.
A second alternative would extend an existing T-pier with a trestle and expansion span.
A third alternative 1,000 feet east of the T-pier and closest to the tip of the Hook would require construction of a new dock.
Both T-pier-area sites would require 200-foot wave-attenuation structures and would include 40 piles each that would extend toward, but not be anchored to, the seabed.
Morrill said Friday that the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, which must be consulted because the Hook is part of the tribe’s usual and accustomed fishing grounds, “categorically” rejected the easternmost alternative in an Aug. 15 letter to the Navy, citing environmental concerns.
He said the site is in the most natural condition of any of the alternatives.
“They would have to put in all sorts of structures to protect the facility from waves,” Morrill said.
He said the tribe is most in favor of the alternative that would expand the existing T-pier.
“The field is changing with this new alternative,” Morrill added.
“We’re not out to block the project.
“We raised concerns, and we have yet to sit down with anyone to see what kind of response they want to propose.”
Tribal officials expect to further discuss the project with the Navy during a scheduled meeting in June.
The three alternatives are outlined in a Navy report, Description of Proposed Action and Alternatives.
It’s part of the Navy’s ongoing draft environmental assessment of the project.
The report is available at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Edizpier.
Any alternative that the Navy selects “must be on property owned or controlled by the federal government,” according to selection criteria contained in the report.
In February, the Port of Port Angeles proposed a revised version of a 2011 port plan that was rejected by the Navy and that offered dockage space at the east berth of Terminal 1 and separate dedicated space at A/B Float in the Port Angeles Boat Haven.
In 2014, the Navy paid the port about $80,000 in berthage fees at the Port Angeles Boat Haven and port terminals.
The Navy would no longer use port facilities if a new pier is built at Ediz Hook.
Jesse Waknitz, port environmental specialist, said last week the Navy never responded to the proposal.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
