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Saturday, December 4, 2004
Expansion of Maury Island gravel mine appealed
The battle over the expansion of a gravel mine on Maury Island isn't over. Three environmental groups and King County filed appeals this week in an effort to stop the controversial project, which has been in the works for six years.
The groups are appealing a decision by the Shoreline Hearings Board to allow Northwest Aggregates Co. to build a pier and operate an expanded sand and gravel mine on the southeastern side of the island.
Northwest Aggregates, a subsidiary of foreign-owned Glacier Northwest Inc., seeks to expand its mining operations from about 15,000 tons to up to 7.5 million tons per year. Barges would transport the material.
The island boasts long stretches of undeveloped shoreline inhabited by a wide range of marine life and seabirds, such as salmon, geoducks and Western grebes.
Last month, the state Department of Natural Resources designated the island's public tidelands as a state aquatic reserve. The preserve rings most of Maury and includes Quartermaster Harbor, where a large herring population annually spawns.
The reserve designation does not prevent the operation of the sand and gravel mine.
In March, King County's Department of Development and Environmental Services denied the company's permit application, and the six-member hearings board reversed that decision in August.
Separate appeals by the county and Preserve Our Islands, People for Puget Sound and Washington Environmental Council were filed with King County Superior Court.
The appeal by the environmental groups says the permit does not meet county regulations for protecting shorelines and was issued before all of the potentially harmful effects of the project had been determined.
The company has defended its plan as environmentally sound.
"Extensive environmental analysis" has been done, wrote Ron Summers, vice president for the local division of Glacier Northwest, in an opinion piece that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in August.
He said that the pier was designed to protect the shoreline and that the barges were clean and efficient.
Summers did not return calls yesterday for comment.
More headlines and info from Vashon Island.
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