Subscribe to the NewsHood Canal Council could get Millions from Navy for Environmental Projects
By Admin
The Navy is planning to build a new explosives handling wharf at the Bangor Submarine Base. This Kitsap Sun article discusses potential payments to the Hood Canal Coordinating Council to mitigate the environmental impact of the project.
Under federal law, the Navy must provide mitigation for environmental damage caused by the $715-million wharf, currently going through an environmental review process.
Instead of identifying its own mitigation projects, the Navy favors making payments to a government entity such as the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, which would ensure that restoration projects fit into the larger goals of restoring Hood Canal, said Lynn Wall, environmental planner for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, based in Silverdale.
For the Navy to pay a fee in lieu of a mitigation project, the coordinating council must first develop a plan under the In-Lieu Fee Compensatory Mitigation Program. The plan must follow federal regulations, be approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and include procedures for measuring the loss of ecosystem function and the benefits of ecosystem restoration.
Hood Canal Coordinating Council consists of the county commissioners from Kitsap, Mason and Jefferson counties, along with tribal chairmen from the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Skokomish tribes.
It’s too early to know exactly the amounts or projects that will be involved, but the article did mention some possibilities.
Wall said it is too early to know how much mitigation money might be involved in the new Bangor wharf. But $15 million was the rough estimate she presented to the coordinating council’s executive board last month. If the first mitigation is successful, she added, future projects could generate additional funds for other restoration work.
An early candidate for restoration is the removal of an earthen causeway across the Big Beef Creek estuary near Seabeck and building a new bridge in its place. Other ideas include estuary restoration work in Quilcene or Dabob Bay.
Considering the needs of Hood Canal, Jay Manning, chief of staff for Gov. Chris Gregoire, said the in-lieu fee program is too good an opportunity to pass up.
“The details are difficult; I don’t deny that,” said Manning, a South Kitsap native, “but we need to work our way through the details and effectuate the high priority restorations, not fritter away the money on small projects.”
Chris Townsend, manager of planning and policy for the Puget Sound Partnership, said an in-lieu fee program would allow the Navy and the coordinating council to focus on their individual expertise.
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