Port aligns contracts of consultant team in Budd Inlet cleanup project

The Port of Olympia Commission approved a series of contract amendments with the Port’s consultants for the Budd Inlet remediation project on Monday, June 26.

The amendments extend the terms until the end of 2024 to help synchronize the work being done by the consultant team, as well as expand the scope of the contracts to match what is needed for Stage 1B of the project. This stage focuses on finalizing the interim action plan, developing pre-design reports and design documents, as well as permitting work.

The Port’s consultant team for the project includes the following:

• Cascadia Law Group, which provides legal advice on project development, permitting, and financing
• Cascadia Policy Solutions, which supports the Port with stakeholder relationships
• Christopher L. Reive, Counselor at Law, which provides research on Port insurance policies
• Dalton Olmsted & Fuglevand, which supports the Port with project conceptualization, design, permitting, and project cost estimates
• Gemini Environmental Strategies, which supports the Port through regulatory assistance and project management
• Leeward Strategies, which guides the Port in project funding
• Lund Faucett, which supports the Port in communication and public affairs

The table below provides a breakdown of the contract amounts for each consultant. It includes the initial not-to-exceed amounts of the contracts when they were originally signed in the early months of 2022, as well as additional amounts added to these limits through amendments done late last year.

Table showing allocations for each consultant.

Only 10% of the costs, or $462,150, involved in stage 1B is directly covered by the Port due to new sources of funding, such as a $6.25 million remedial action grant from the Department of Ecology (Ecology)and a state capital budget appropriation of $2.2 million through Department of Commerce.

The cleanup of Budd Inlet complies with a 2008 Agreed Order with Ecology which had determined that the Port is a liable party for the contamination at Budd Inlet under the Model Toxics Control Act.