By Janice Podsada
Herald Writer
EDMONDS — For D.J. Wilson, head of an Edmonds anti-Brightwater group, it appears that the Port of Edmonds has gone over to the enemy.
Port officials agreed to install a $15,000 weather station on Port property this week.
But the 30-foot-tall weather station, which measures temperature and wind speed, is the property of the King County Department of Natural Resources, which is in charge of coordinating the siting of Brightwater, King County’s third wastewater treatment plant.
And the information collected will be used to evaluate the suitability of the Edmonds Brightwater site, the former Unocal tank farm, located adjacent to the port’s marina.
The fact that the port is allowing King County to install the monitoring device has angered residents, the city’s elected officials and members of the Washington Tea Party, an anti-Brightwater citizens group that Wilson heads.
"It is really frustrating when you have an elected body that is not representative of the people," Wilson said, referring to the port’s directors and five elected commissioners.
In April, Wilson’s group asked port officials to officially oppose the siting of Brightwater at Edmonds. But port officials refused to do so.
Chris Keuss, deputy director of the port, said at the time that the port won’t take a position until an environmental impact statement is completed.
Impact statements are being prepared for two sites, the 53-acre Unocal site and a 108-acre site near the intersection of Route 9 and 228th Street SE. Work on the impact statements should be completed this month, said Carolyn Duncan, spokeswomen with King County’s Department of Natural Resources.
The approximately $1 billion treatment plant will be used to treat sewage from north King County and south Snohomish County. King County Executive Ron Sims has the final say on where the plant will be located. His decision is expected in January.
Ken Reid, director of the Port of Edmonds, said that after King County officials have collected the information required for the impact statement, the weather station will become port property.
"We’ve been talking about adding a weather station for years," Reid said.
But the freebie, and the strings attached, doesn’t sit well with Wilson.
"If they’re doing this because they think they’re going to get something for cheap, they’d better think twice. Two of the five commissioners are up for re-election this fall. They’re shortsighted if they think we’re going to forget this."
Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson said that the port by law is independent of the city and therefore can make its own policy.
"It’s disappointing to me that the port has not chosen to join its Edmonds constituents in opposition to siting the plant at the Unocal site," he said.
Meanwhile, Snohomish County and Unocal recently agreed to let King County do geological and environmental testing on the site. Unocal had previously refused to grant permission for the county to come on the property for testing. Edmonds also had refused permission except on tidelands owned by the state and leased by the city.
Haakenson has said the refusal is part of the city’s strategy to make siting the plant in Edmonds as difficult as possible.
As a result, King County has paid several private property owners for the right to take samples on their land, costing between $6,000 and $10,000, said Christie True, manager of major capital improvement programs for King County.
Bill Sheets of the Enterprise newspapers contributed to this report.
You can call Herald Writer Janice Podsada at 425-339-3029 or send e-mail to podsada@heraldnet.com.
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