At 3:00 p.m. today, the King County Department of Development & Environmental Services is issuing a Notice to Proceed to Glacier Northwest for the construction of a barge loading facility on Maury Island. Issuance of this notice today is the result of the decision earlier this week by outgoing State Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland to issue an aquatics lease to Glacier, permitting work within the immediate shoreline area.

In 2004, King County denied Glacier’s request for shoreline permits for this project. The county’s denial of those shoreline permits was challenged by Glacier Northwest to the State Shoreline Hearings Board, which directed King County to issue requisite shoreline permit approvals to Glacier. King County appealed the Shoreline Hearings Board’s decision which was subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of the State of Washington. King County issued the building permit for the dock and barge loading facility in 2006; however, actual construction was delayed pending final approval of federal and state permits and authorizations. The aquatics lease was the final remaining permit approval required for Glacier prior to proceeding with the dock construction.

Since the decision by Commissioner Sutherland to proceed with execution of the aquatics lease, King County has received phone calls and inquiries from concerned lawmakers and the public. After careful review of legal issues raised by Preserve Our Islands and the prior direction issued by the courts in this matter, I have determined that the county has exhausted its reasonable legal options to not issue the Notice to Proceed for the barge loading operation.

This is a disappointment to those of us who work passionately to protect the waters of Puget Sound. Earlier this week we celebrated our bold new plan to protect the Sound and yet the county has no appropriate basis for withholding the Notice to Proceed. It is my hope that this unfortunate predicament serves as the basis for real protection of our aquatic lands by the State of Washington in the future.

King County Chronology of events at Glacier Mining Site

Background: There has been periodic barging of material from the site from the opening of the mine until the late 1970s. The original grading permit for the Maury Island Pit was issued in November, 1970 and has been renewed annually since. From about 1980 until the present, annual production has been modest, typically less than 5,000 tons per year. The current grading permit is only for removing material by truck.

1978: Gravel barging officially stopped in 1978. The gravel loading dock and a portion of the original conveyor system remained on the site after the last lease expired in 2000. This dock has fallen into extensive disrepair, which drives the most recent set of permits/reviews from DDES and other agencies.

1998: In May of 1998 the permittee applied for a revision to dramatically increase mining at the site and once again renew barging operations (revision to existing grading permit). In August of that year King County issued a Determination of Significance requiring an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be prepared for review of the proposal.

2000: The final EIS was issued in June of 2000.

2002: In 2002, King County DDES required the permittee to apply for a Shorelines Substantial Development Permit and Shorelines Conditional Use Permit (Shoreline Conditional Use Permit DDES File L02SH012 Shoreline Management Substantial Development Permit DDES File L02SH013). These two permits would be in preparation for a commercial building permit.

2004: In December of 2004, Glacier NW applied for a commercial building permit (B04C0222) to reconstruct the dock and barge loading facility.

2005: In June of 2005, the Shoreline permits were finalized after an appeal (of the denial of those permits) to the Shoreline Hearings Board and subsequent appeals to the Washington Court of Appeals and Washington Supreme Court. The Shoreline Conditional Use Permit included a condition that no work could commence until all state and federal permits and the aquatic lease were secured.

2006: The Commercial Building Permit was approved in February of 2006.

List of King County (DDES) permits issued at Site

1. CLEARING AND GRADING PERMIT, issued November, 1970.
a. Permit originally allowed trucking and barging of gravel off site, but Glacier eventually stopped barging due to demand.
b. DDES has been responsible for periodic reviews. During the past several years, DDES has been on site at least once per month, with only a small amount of material removed from the site in trucks.

2. COMMERCIAL BUILDING PERMIT, issued February, 2006
a. Covers dock reconstruction.
b. Covers machinery associated with barge loading.

3. SHORELINE SUBSTANTIAL DEVELOPMENT and SHORELINE CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS, finalized by Shorelines Hearings Board, June, 2005
a. Originally denied by King County. Appealed to Shorelines Hearings Board, as well as Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.
b. Provided conditions for reconstruction of dock as well as procedures for barging, all of which were designed to protect the marine environment.
c. These two permits were issued jointly.

List of other reviewing government agencies

1. Army Corps of Engineers
2. Washington State Department of Ecology
3. Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife
4. Puget Sound Air Control Agency
5. Washington State Department of Natural Resources (recent aquatics lease)
6. National Marine Fisheries