FIGHT AGAINST WEYERHAEUSER LOG YARD SHIFTS FROM COURT TO CITY HALL
OLYMPIA, Wash. - No agency has ever fully assessed the environmental damage that is likely to result from Weyerhaeuser’s construction of a log export facility at the Port of Olympia. That is why Olympians for Public Accountability and eight concerned individuals filed a lawsuit last summer, hoping to force the Port to comply with the State Environmental Policy Act.
Unfortunately, the Port and Weyerhaeuser have blazed ahead with the project despite the pending lawsuit. By the time the Thurston County Superior Court can decide the merits of Olympians for Public Accountability et al. v. Port of Olympia and Weyerhaeuser Co., it will be too late to grant meaningful relief because the project will already be built.
It is not too late, however, for the Port to voluntarily conduct the adequate environmental review that the law has required all along. It is not too late for the City of Olympia to insist on such a review before approving any more permits for the project. Therefore, Olympians for Public Accountability and the eight other plaintiffs in the suit are announcing a shift in their efforts from the Courthouse to City Hall. It is past time for the Port and the City to do the right thing, and to immediately address concerns about air and water pollution, noise and traffic congestion BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
“We are still gravely concerned about the cumulative impacts of the new Weyerhaeuser operation, the related dredging of Budd Inlet, and the many other developments planned or underway in the Port of Olympia area,” said Stanley Stahl, president of OPA. “We want to work with the Port’s newly elected commissioner, George Barner, and the incumbent commissioners, Paul Telford and Steve McGregor, to find a constructive solution to our concerns. Most importantly, we will look to the City of Olympia for leadership as it reviews this environmentally threatening Weyerhaeuser project.”
Having reached the expiration of its lease with the Port of Tacoma, Weyerhaeuser negotiated a new lease for its log export yard with the Port of Olympia. Log trucks will clog streets with up to 350 additional truck trips per day, increasing noise, traffic air pollution levels. Contaminated soil will be disturbed polluting the marine environment. Dredging will deepen and widen the shipping channel and berthing areas to accommodate bigger and more frequent ships, which will pollute the air by burning the lowest grade of bunker fuel. Sixty foot towering lights will cast a glare. These are among the concerns that should be evaluated in an environmental impact statement.
For more information, contact Patrisa DiFrancesca: 360-570-9903 or 360-464-7413.