In a setback for expansion of port capacity in Puget Sound, an environmental review has temporarily blocked Weyerhaeuser's plans to export logs from the Port of Olympia.
The small port signed a five-year lease with the timber company last year and was expecting $1.5 million in new revenue and 36 new jobs. The operation is delayed until late 2007 the delays have cost $750,000 in missed revenue.
The delay has an impact on shipping capacity in Puget Sound overall. Shifting from the log business would allow more space for containerships in Tacoma and would boost the growing port business in Olympia. Critics say the project is unnecessary since the area has few industrial producers, fault the port's decision-making and opposed plans to dredge the inlet.