Ocean Shores News - February 2009

February 2009

OCEAN SHORES NEWS

Fantastic Clam digging Weekend

It couldn’t have been a better weekend for clam diggers. The weather was warm and sunny and plenty of nice size clams. Dan Ayres, shellfish manager with the Department of Fish and Wildlife said that all three days of clam digging were very good.

He said that clam digging beaches saw about 29,500 “digger trips” over the weekend. He added that new numbers from the University of Washington estimate each “digger trip” on a razor clam weekend can add $49 to the local economy.

Offshore Energy Project

A company interested in converting wave energy to electricity is poised to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to build five or six test converters off Ocean Shores and Grayland.

Grays Harbor Ocean Energy already has a federal permit to a feasibility study and now it is interested in actually building and installing a wave energy converters but has not yet officially applied to do the construction.

Project supporters believe it could supply enough energy to power the entire Olympic Peninsula and make Grays Harbor one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the world.

Last July, the commission issued a preliminary permit to Grays Harbor Ocean Energy, giving the company exclusive rights for a feasibility study at the designated locations for the next three years. That permit did not authorize any construction. The deadline for Grays Harbor Ocean Energy to apply for the pilot project license is July 31, 2010.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE HARBOR

Car Shipments ready for Export

Shipment of vehicles have flooded into Aberdeen, 200 or 300 a day, as the Port of Grays Harbor prepares for their export.

A California-based auto shipping and processing company called the Pasha Group is coordinating the shipment of these vehicles. About 1,100 of these vehicles were loaded on the Jean Anne for shipment to Hawaii to replace a fleet of card for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The Jean Anne typically rotates between San Diego and the Hawaiian islands. When Enterprise car rentals purchased the 1,100 vehicles at a Seattle auction, they asked the Pasha Group to help move them.

Michael Pasha, general manager of port development said a small group of locally hired workers helped inspect and process the cars with tests on batteries and tires, then numbered and labeled the vehicles. A separate division of the company then worked to hire local longshore workers to load the vehicles.

“we’re really happy about the working relationship with the Port and the local labor unions,” Pasha said. “That’s why we’re here.”

Harnessing the Power of the Tides

Grays Harbor PUD and the Pacific County PUD are working to get funding for the proposed tidal energy generation project, they hope to power homes from tidal movements running in and out of Grays Harbor. Grays Harbor PUD General Manager Rick Lovely predicted the movement could produce about 1 megawatt of power, enough to light up about 100 homes. He hoped to have a pilot program in the water by 2011. Putting an underwater turbine beneath the channel from the Chehalis River into the Harbor could capture the energy from the flow of tides along the river.

PUD spokeswoman Liz Anderson said the first phase of the effort cost about $150,000 as the districts first measured velocity and scouted potential sites. The next phase of the project would cost about $2 million to fund studies, permits and other feasibility research. The third and final phase of research would be constructing and installing a pilot device to actually test the concept and power output, this could cost another $4 to 5 million. The utility districts plan to apply for $1.5 million in federal funding for the research the rest would come from regional partnerships with companies or organizations.

This is not ocean wave energy and it is not wind energy, a number of companies have designed devices that should work for the project but a lot of additional studying has to be done.

Breaking Ground for a $20 Million Liquid Bulk Storage Facility

Gold shovels cut into the dirt of marine Terminal 1, tossing the first scoop of a new bulk storage facility. Port officials and local city officials took turn welcoming the company to the area.

Grays Harbor commissioners, officials and county commissioners lined up next to representatives of New Orleans-based Westway Terminals, which plans to begin operations this fall.

Westway Terminals specializes in moving and storing liquid bulk around the world. They hold almost anything but oil products, often storing molasses or various chemicals. They expect to store methane on Grays Harbor and expand to other products.

The company expects to bring about a dozen vessels into the Port each year and increase that number as the facility develops. About five to ten full-time positions could be created.

Home Prices decline

Single family home prices in Grays Harbor County lost 10.9 percent of their value over the past year, with a median price of $155,000. Over the past five years, local home values went up 55 percent.

Even though the Harbor closed only 749 home sales in 2008 as opposed to 1,010 in 2007, the decline wasn’t as precipitous as in other counties.

Grays Harbor homes kept their value better than some and in the survey of 16 Western Washington counties, the Harbor home prices were put in the middle of the pack.

Planning a visit to Ocean Shores? Go to our new website for lodging, dining, shopping and activity information and even driving directions!www.TourismOceanShores.com

If you, or anybody you know, have thought about buying or selling some property or building a new home, I would be more than happy to assist you in finding your dream in or around Ocean Shores.

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