It was 2007 when the Federal Way-based company decided to move its log export operation from Tacoma to the Olympia waterfront. Port of Olympia officials were sharply criticized by local activists who believed the port did not adequately address the environmental concerns. More recently, a group calling itself Olympians for Public Accountability, sued the port, claiming violations of the federal Clean Water Act. Activists claimed the port “allowed wash water from the Weyerhaeuser log-export operation to mix with stormwater in violation of the port stormwater discharge permit issued by the state Department of Ecology.”
The port and the group reached a settlement in which the group agreed to drop its two legal cases. In return, the port has agreed to pay the activists’ attorney and consultant fees of $215,000 and spend $120,000 toward a $180,000 project to restore Mission Creek in lower Budd Inlet.
But that has been the only negative in what has otherwise been a largely positive relationship between the port and Weyerhaeuser and the community.
Anyone who has been paying attention can testify to the results of the five-year export contract between the two parties. In 2008 just one lone log ship visited the Port of Olympia’s dock at the base of Budd Inlet. Marine Terminal revenue dipped to $1.6 million that year.
Today Weyerhaeuser is the largest log-yard tenant at the port, followed by Pacific Lumber and Shipping, a division of the Port Blakely Cos. of Seattle. Both have helped raise the profile of the port’s marine terminal.
The increase in marine traffic has been slow and steady. Eleven log ships and 11 barges called on Olympia’s port in 2009; 22 log ships and seven barges visited the port in 2010 and so far this year, 20 log ships have called on the port.
Marine terminal revenue grew to $2.6 million in 2010, according to a report from the state auditor. That’s an increase of $1 million in two years.
Port of Olympia Commissioner Bill McGregor is quick to note that in addition to boosting the port’s bottom line, the upsurge in log exports has given dockworkers more working hours at the port. A Port of Olympia study has shown that at least 400 jobs are associated with the movement of cargo, including logs, into and out of the port. Weyerhaeuser employs 25 people at the port, and another 35 to 40 dockworkers typically load logs on each ship, which are often bound for Japan, China and South Korea.
The jobs of longshoremen loading the ships – sometimes in shifts that go around-the-clock – are not real apparent to South Sound residents. But those Weyerhaeuser and longshore family-wage jobs are putting money in the pockets of South Sound residents.
The work of log truck drivers certainly are obvious. Drive down Plum Street and motorists will see one log-laden truck after another headed toward the storage yard at the port. It takes up to 1,200 truckloads of logs to fill a ship.
Again, the jobs associated with the timber harvests are less obvious to residents, but anyone who watches a ship dock at the port will see the entire crew scurrying for the closest retail outlets. Crew members sometimes spend their entire paycheck in local stores, where they purchase television sets, other electronics and merchandise to take home with them. It’s not uncommon to see vans loaded with merchandise pulling up to the pier, where crew members quickly stow it away.
The lease between the Port of Olympia and Weyerhaeuser is up for renewal late next year. We don’t have to remind port commissioners just how important that lease is, not just to the port’s bottom line, but South Sound employment and the local economy.
