About 10 years ago when I was closely watching the Port, from one year to the next in about 2014, a multi-million dollar budget item simply disappeared from the Port budget from one year to the next... It was for dredging.
Anyway, not only is the uber-shallow Marine Terminal in near constant need of dredging in order to function at a big annual loss, The Olympia Yacht Club gets silted as well--and they are the primary reason that the dam wasn't removed a long time ago. Both the MT and The Yacht Club have had extremely generous taxpayer support over the years despite the taxpayers getting nothing in return but more taxation decade after decade while the losses went on eternally and everlastingly and forevermore. Many good people have despaired as special interests prevailed unceasingly despite our best efforts failing to stop the corruption.
The problem with dredging these sediments is the dioxin in high concentrations that are massively expensive to dispose of. And I would argue that it is unneighborly to dump our dioxin anywhere else. Dioxin concentrations in Budd Inlet in some areas are as high as Love Canal. Plus, to make matters worse, we already have a big pile of toxic dredge spoils that will spill eventually with sea level rise. And beyond that, there is likely more dioxin pollution still actively coming from places that we haven't looked into to get the facts about...
The most rational sensible logical healthy way to proceed with sediment management after the dam is removed is to close the Marine Terminal and send the Yacht Club packing and to just leave the dioxin where it is and to let the new sediments cover over the dioxin. And that will work if we have no other undiscovered dioxin contamination sources which are currently active.
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