PORT ANGELES — The Navy has issued a draft environmental assessment for a proposed pier on Ediz Hook to moor vessels that escort submarines from Hood Canal to the Pacific Ocean.
The assessment, a 224-page document, is available online at http://go.usa.gov/tAr4. A printed copy can be reviewed at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
The Navy will host a public meeting on the pier proposal from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 12 in the Elks Naval Lodge, 131 E. First St., where officials will present information, answer questions and accept written comments.
Oral comments will not be accepted.
Written comments also may be emailed to NWNEPA@navy.mil or sent to Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest; Attention: NEPA Project Manager/TPS Facilities; 1101 Tautog Circle, Room 203; Silverdale, WA 98315-1101.
The escort vessels, called the Transit Protection System, presently tie up at Port of Port Angeles terminals to comply with Coast Guard underway-hour limits and crew rest requirements between trips.
The vessels, 33 to 250 feet long, screen and escort ballistic missile subs from Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The Navy has rejected the current arrangement as insufficient to its mission.
The proposed pier would extend from the southern shore near the eastern end of Ediz Hook at Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles.
The Navy has budgeted $16.7 million to build it.
It replaced one of its original three alternatives with one that may please scuba divers and the Puget Sound Pilots.
The preferred alternative — the fourth proposal put forth by the Navy and named the Midwestern Site — calls for these structures:
■ A trestle 355 feet long and 24 feet wide.
■ A fixed pier at the end of the trestle, 160 feet long and 42 feet wide, where 250-foot blocking vessels would tie up.
■ Two floats 80 feet long and 17 feet wide on the west side of the pier, one float 120 feet long and 12 feet wide on the east side of the pier, where an 87-foot reaction vessel and several 64- and 33-foot screening vessels would be moored, respectively.
Up to nine vessels could lay over at the Transit Protection System facility.
■ An 8,200-square-foot Alert Forces Facility to provide offices and quarters for 20-30 personnel.
■ A 200-square-foot Ready Service Armory to store small arms and ammunition.
■ An above-ground, double-walled, 10,000-gallon fuel tank.
■ A 2,864-square-foot fuel truck parking area.
■ A net increase of 5,500 square feet under impervious paving.
All the facilities would run along the south shore of the Hook from near the western end of the current Coast Guard runway eastward almost to the Coast Guard medical/dental clinic.
According to the assessment, the facility would not impair recreational activities on Ediz Hook, except for construction noise and a larger area off limits to small craft.
The primary environmental impact would be to birds who would avoid the area during construction, the assessment said.
Construction would increase water turbidity, and the pier would degrade eelgrass beds by shading 25,465 square feet of water, according to the assessment.
The new Navy installation would pose less possible interference with the Puget Sound Pilots station and fewer hazards to scuba divers on what is known as the “rock pile.” Both are located west of the proposed Transit Protection System complex.
However, it might displace Icicle Seafood’s 20 Atlantic salmon-farming pens, according to Alan Cook, the Seattle seafood firm’s vice president for aquaculture.
Cook told Port of Port Angeles commissioners Nov. 24 the company would relocate its fish farm 2 miles east of Ediz Hook, 1.7 miles offshore from Green Point.
Cook briefed commissioners of Icicle’s plans but said he might return to solicit their support in a permitting process that he expects environmentalists to oppose.
The farm has operated for 30 years, he said, under Icicle’s ownership since 2008. It leases rights from the state Department of Natural Resources, which it would surrender if it moves.
The fish farm employs 10 people with a $1.1 million annually in wages and benefits and $1.5 local purchasing, Cook said.
“You’ve been a good community employer,” port commission President Jim Hallett told him.
“We’re working hard [at the port] to stabilize employment. I think we ought to offer any kind of support we can.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
