Munitions pier may get floating fence

INDIAN ISLAND – The Army Corps of Engineers is considering building a floating fence around the munitions pier at Naval Magazine Indian Island in Port Townsend Bay and enlarging the security zone around the pier.

Neither Sheila Murray, environmental spokeswoman for the Navy’s Northwest region, nor Chris Haley, a regional Navy spokesman, could say how much the zone would be enlarged or how large it is now.

Haley described the floating barrier the corps is thinking about as pontoons with fencing in between. It would be designed to stop vessels and would rise about 2 feet above the surface.

The new security safeguards are needed to protect military vessels and the Naval Magazine “from sabotage and other subversive acts, accidents, or incidents of similar nature,” according to a July 31 entry in the U.S. Federal Register.

“The regulations are also necessary to protect the public from potentially hazardous conditions that may exist as a result of military use of the area,” the entry said.

The corps is accepting public comment on the proposal through Aug. 30.

Naval Magazine Indian Island is the only munitions storage and transfer depot on the West Coast for the Navy’s Pacific Fleet.

The base’s munitions pier is about two miles east of downtown Port Townsend. It handles only non-nuclear bombs, bullets, torpedoes, shells and other ordnance.

Navy and Army vessels are routinely loaded and offloaded at the pier, including nuclear-powered submarines.

In addition to a floating security fence around the pier, Murray said the pier’s flashing yellow beacon light would be replaced by a red flashing light when ships are loading or when work on the pier makes entry unsafe.

When the pier was not being used, Haley said two gates would be opened to allow nonmilitary boats through.

Haley noted that similar moves are being considered at other Puget Sound Naval installations, including the Manchester fuel depot and Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton.