Rick Rouse swings a sledgehammer to drive a metal tube into the ground at the Port or Chehalis' Pleasant Valley wetlands mitigation site in 2011.
More than a year after the Port of Chehalis learned that the renewal of its regional general permit would likely see a delay, commissioners expressed frustration at a meeting last week after the state Department of Ecology and the Army Corps of Engineers advised the port to limit the amount of acres it is requesting for the filling of wetlands on its property.
The regional general permit, which lapsed in September of last year, is required for the filling of wetlands on Port of Chehalis property.
In its application for the permit renewal, the port bumped up its request to 40 acres because commissioners want to have the ability to use all of the wetlands credits it has at its Pleasant Valley Mitigation Site. The increase from the original 25 acres of wetlands approved in the first permit has been met with pushback from the Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Ecology and the Quinault Indian Nation.
The port submitted additional documentation that included a cumulative impact analysis to address concerns.
“The short version is what we’ve submitted in their judgement would not be sufficient to authorize what we’ve asked for,” Port CEO Randy Mueller said. “The parties have one objection or another and some of it is pretty severe … The expression ‘over my dead body’ was used more than once.”
In a recent meeting with the Department of Ecology, Mueller said the agency indicated it would likely approve a wetland impact of 19 acres instead of the 40 that was requested. Since the first RGP was authorized for 25 credits, and six of those have already been used, the 19 acres would grant the port the amount of acres it was previously authorized under the first permit.
“Ecology said the 40 acres puts them in a bad spot,” Mara McGrath, with Ecological Land Services, said. “I’m not sure precisely what that means, but they indicated it would be the largest authorized wetland impact in the state and they didn’t feel comfortable with that.”
She said Ecology did not feel the Pleasant Valley Mitigation Site met the required criteria of extraordinary or outstanding mitigation, despite not having seen the site themselves.
The wetlands at the site have more habitat value than the low quality class 4 wetlands, or farm fields, the port is attempting to mitigate for, Mueller and commissioners said.
“The Quinaults have never visited, along with the Department of Ecology,” Commissioner Ken Kostick said. “I have no trust in anybody anymore … We invested into this and were led on this path. We trusted that, foolishly, I guess now and now here we are being told ‘sorry that’s not going to work,’ yet they’ve never gone out and looked at the damn thing.”
The Army Corps of Engineers was the main advocate of the RGP the first time the port applied for the permit, Commissioner Mark Giffey said.
Now, it seems the Corps favors individual permits for projects, stated staff from Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office, which have their own setbacks, such as a two-year timeline to issue the individual permits.
Commissioners did not make a decision to reduce the request and instead urged the parties in opposition to visit the mitigation site.
Dena Horton, with Cantwell’s office, said she would get in touch with the parties and try to coordinate a site visit.
“We’re trying to do the right thing and to get hit with this is an insult,” Commissioner Mark Giffey said. “We know we have to have a great place to live and a great place to work. Our job is to find a great place to work for the community and at the same time make sure impacts are mitigated for. This is just an incredible frustration.”
Commissioner Mark Anders was also not pleased with the agencies.
“I would hope at some point these groups like the EPA or the Corps, that they realize they are dealing with real people, real lives and real poverty,” he said. “… It’s an absolute insult to the people of Lewis County when these types of things take place, and it just makes me mad as hell to think about it.”
