The Port of Tacoma needs to perform maintenance dredging at the Pierce County Terminal (PCT) facility located along the Blair Waterway in order to remove shoaling areas that are preventing vessels from being fully loaded with cargo. “Light loading” vessels is causing economic impacts and safety concerns. The proposed maintenance dredging will remove shoaling caused by propwash along the berthing areas at Pierce County Terminal allowing the terminal operator to resume normal operations.

The purpose of the proposed project is to restore the berthing areas at PCT to the permitted depth of -51 feet MLLW, with an incidental 2-foot over-dredge allowance. Maintenance dredging is needed to allow normal operation at the terminals to resume. The current conditions do not allow for full vessel loading (economic impact) and could lead to grounding out of vessels (safety issue). To achieve this purpose, the Port must dredge up to 28,000 CY of sediments, of which up to roughly 13,000 CY is over dredge. The proposed maintenance dredging is the minimum work needed to return the terminal to normal operations.

Location:

The berth area of the Port's Pierce County Terminal: 4015 SR-509 N. Frontage Rd Tacoma, WA 98421

Comment Dates:

• Comment start date: Sept. 8, 2022
• Comment end date: Sept. 22, 2022
• Request for reconsideration end date: Sept. 29, 2022

More information:

• Determination of non-significance
• SEPA Checklist
• Drawings