County, ports plan dredging strategy

Can Wahkiakum County and the coalition of upriver ports join forces for the benefit of both in their efforts to conduct dredging projects?

The two groups will hold a town hall meeting April 18 in Cathlamet to discuss their goals and the possibility of combining their separate projects.

County commissioners hosted representatives of Ports of Kalama, Woodland and Longview in a workshop Tuesday to begin a group discussion.

Commissioner Dan Cothren, who had set up the meeting, started by explaining that he had invited the port officials so citizens and county officials could hear what the visitors had to say so that, as he said, "We all get on the same page."

"We both have issues with the US Army Corps of Engineers, trying to get things done," he added.

For the county's part, commissioners are trying to establish a 10-year dredge spoil beach nourishment program for eroding shorelines on Puget Island and at Cape Horn.

Cothren pointed out that the county's cash-strapped Current Expense Fund is so far paying expenses for the flood control zone districts where sand would be placed, but the districts' property owners have just started paying assessments that won't cover the expense for several years. In the meantime, he said, the Corps keeps asking for more and more information during the permitting process, and the cost could hit $150,000.

Mark Wilson, executive director of the Port of Kalama, outlined the ports' projects.

First, they have a 20-year dredge disposal program in the permitting stage. Next, they have an application to Wahkiakum County for a shoreline development permit that would allow them to pump sand across shorelines and East Sunny Sands Road to an inland disposal site on the farm owned by Philip and Ivy Lou Vik.

The Vik site was identified over a decade ago as an inland disposal site as part of the ports' channel deepening project. It's the last site to be developed, Wilson said.

County officials last year declined to approve the permit. They've commented they won't approve the ports' application unless

sand is deposited on eroding shorelines before it is dumped inside the Island dikes.

Wilson commented that port officials feel they have legal standing to overcome the county's resistance, but he called for the parties to work together and not oppose each other.

Wilson said the ports' 20-year dredging program provides an opportunity to add the county's disposal sites to those identified by the ports. That would mean that the ports would cover most of the cost of permitting.

The disadvantage with the ports' program is that it is in the middle of the process, while the county's application process is nearly over. Further, erosion is threatening houses and septic systems.

It would also mean that the ports could begin dumping sand on the Vik site before sand went on to the eroding shorelines.

Commissioner Blair Brady asked if the ports would sign a binding agreement prioritizing sand on the shorelines over the inland site if county sites became part of the program and the board didn't stand in the way of the shoreline permit.

Wilson said the representatives couldn't make any commitments; other members of the port coalition would have to be part of that decision making process.

Cothren and Commissioner Mike Backman also raised the issue of management of the inland disposal site and whether or not the sand would be unhealthy.

The sand would be deposited over 30 feet deep on the inland site, Cothren said, and it would adversely impact neighbors if allowed to blow in the wind.

Wilson replied that the channel deepening permitting process laid out measures for maintaining the disposal site. Also, material from sites to be dredged is analyzed for contamination, and contaminated spoils are deposited in sites designated for them.

"You need to explain that in detail at the town hall," Backman said. "You're going to have to show how you'll make it safe."

Discussions will continue at the town hall meeting, 6 p.m. April 18, in the commissioners' meeting room in the courthouse.