03/10/2009: "Final EIS To Be Released To Public"

The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the San Juan Island Transfer Station site selection has been completed, and will be available to the public on March 12. The County states the document may be download from the County website on Wednesday morning (3-12-09).

Unlike the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the final is said to include traffic studies on all of the sites, but there are concerns the studies were conducted in the off season when the amount of traffic and non-motorized use of the roads was at it’s lowest point.

The FEIS is required to respond to the questions and comments received after the publication of the DEIS. but to what extent, and how comprehensive the responses are, will not be known until those who commented have an opportunity to read the answers and responses in the FEIS.

The site selection process began at the request of the County Council more than two years ago. After studying five alternative sites, the County’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) recommended that the new facility be located at the Beaverton Valley Road - a site PW had purchased for $1.8M to build a new home for public works and a new transfer station.

Not surprisingly, when Public Works appeared before the County Council last week to make their recommendations , they agreed with the SWAC findings; findings they helped the SWAC reach when they served as the staff support for the SWAC.

The county council members listened respectfully to the presentation, but then began to asked questions that indicated they were not about to simply accept the recommendation as presented.

The County Council will of course make the final decision on which site to select, and to what extent it will then be developed to meet -at the very least- the minimum mandated requirements of county ordinance, state and federal regulations.

As for anything beyond the minimum requirements, the Council will have hard choices in deciding how many and to what extent services the County can afford to provide.

The first public hearing before the County Council is on March 31. The Council will hear from the staff and take public testimony on any and all aspects of the project.

In a related matter, prior to the hearing at the end of March, the County and the Town of Friday Harbor will meet with the Department of Ecology (DOE) to review items not yet to completed on a check off list of environmental and operational problems that DOE inspectors cited when they were asked by Public Works to inspect the existing dump and transfer station on San Juan Island.

The San Juan Island Transfer Station is operating under a DOE waiver that will remain in effect along as the County continues to make progress on reaching transfer station compliance.