Thursday, October 1, 2026
An analysis of the condition of sediments around East Bay proved to be a mixed bag, as some areas showed improvement while other areas raised concern.
The Port of Olympia collected sediment samples on the East Bay in January 2024 to diagnose its condition, as part of a multi-step process to clean up Budd Inlet from historical contamination.
The results, shared by the port in a blog post on Monday, Oct. 27, indicate although contamination on the surface has improved, deeper areas of East Bay still show signs of contamination.
Moxley Creek, the navigation channel, and Swantown Marina & Boatworks are areas of particular concern.
The port collected 1,100 samples from more than 100 locations of varying depths. Samples were taken from the surface, sub-surface layers and the intertidal region, which are areas only exposed during low tide.
Samples were sent to labs in Washington and California, where they were analyzed for various contaminants.
Dioxins and furans were found in all samples, with some samples exhibiting concentration levels exceeding the environmental contamination thresholds established by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
Polychlorinated biphenyls were also found in almost all samples, but more were below regulated thresholds.
Cadmium, arsenic and mercury were widely present, but only a few samples yielded concentration levels above state limits.
Sediments were also analyzed for chemicals, such as pentachlorophenol and semi-volatile compounds, but the samples rarely exceeded state limits.
The port will continue its work to diagnose Budd Inlet with more testing and analysis through 2026. The results of the tests are going to factor into a long-awaited cleanup plan.
The blog post stated some areas will need active cleanup, while other areas may only need continued monitoring as they could recover naturally.
Likely cleanup actions include dredging and capping, which involves burying contaminated sediment with clean material. The port could also choose to pursue habitat restoration efforts around Budd Inlet to support the cleanup.
The cleanup complies with a 2008 order from the Department of Ecology to study and remediate contamination in Budd Inlet. The port estimates the eventual cleanup of Budd Bay could cost up to $200 million.
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HappyOlympian
Cover the toxins. Digging them up very expensive and just stirs the sediment back into the ecosystems.
"The port estimates the eventual cleanup of Budd Bay could cost up to $200 million." Covering got to be much cheaper and more effective.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Report this
Pate59
Why stir up what has settled. Oh yeah we get to spend 250,000,000. Over 1,000 sediment samples needed? Really. I am really saddened by this, $250,000,000 spent under water. Homeless human souls lying in our streets. What is up with our moral priorities...
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Report this
JulesJames
Dredge West Bay. Dredge East Bay north of Yew Street. Add earthquake anti-liquification pilings south of Yew Street. Fill in south of Yew Street to pilot project quality market rate affordable housing. Developers get cheap land in exchange for targeting specific housing types: shared rentals, income-producing ADU, elderly age-in-place, child-compatible, townhouses, duplexes.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Report this
S2345S23456
Yuck! Budd Inlet is SO GROSS!! When the tide goes out and the mudflats dry out, wind can pick up those sediments and disperse them into the air. How much of that might we be breathing?
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 Report this
chrispc2u
In reference to the comment below.
Maybe if we didn’t enable “Homeless human souls” so well in Olympia in the first they would wander aimlessly and be professional bums in some other town. Sick and tired of the petty crimes and drug abusers. Pandemic’s long since ended.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 Report this
BobJacobs
These clean-up plans are a sham and a coverup of the Port District's plans to continue operating the marina and the marine terminal, which should not be in their present locations. Dredging is needed to maintain deep water for those operations. Without them, dredging would not be needed for environmental purposes; polluted sediments would be covered with fresh fill and allowed to stay where they are.
The construction of the Marina was originally rejected by federal agencies and only permitted after overwhelming efforts by special interests.
The marine terminal is a relic of much earlier times when there was a need for it. It has been kept alive for decades by our tax money.
Every year we subsidize a major international corporation (Weyerhaeuser) and boat owners.
A further important thought: If the Port District really cared about pollution in Budd Inlet it would address continued pollution from adjacent lands. That continued pollution makes it impossible to do a real clean-up. If the sources of continued pollution are not identified and cleaned up it makes no sense to take any actions because cleaned up areas would be continuously re-polluted. The is a serious problem in East Bay.
Bob Jacobs
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 Report this
jimlazar
The best solution is to let new sediment from the Deschutes River and Moxlie Creek cover the existing sediments. Stirring them up with dredging will simply release a lot of the pollution to the water. It it has settled out, leave it in sedimentary layers.
We do not need a $200 million project. We need to recognize that modern shipping methods do not require a marine terminal in Olympia. First we subsidize the Port to pay for maintaining the marine terminal, and then our federal taxes pay for the Corps of Engineers to dredge the shipping lanes. The beneficiaries -- overseas purchasers of raw logs from Weyerhaeuser --- don't have to pay for the costs needed to serve them.
As Bob Jacobs said: " If the Port District really cared about pollution in Budd Inlet it would address continued pollution from adjacent lands. That continued pollution makes it impossible to do a real clean-up. If the sources of continued pollution are not identified and cleaned up it makes no sense to take any actions because cleaned up areas would be continuously re-polluted. The is a serious problem in East Bay. "
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 Report this
HarryBranch
I suppose the devil is in the details. Did they collect samples from the deepest part of pipes or catch basins or cores from lands known to be historically contaminated by industrial activities? The claim is that likely cleanup actions will include "dredging (removing contaminated sediment) in areas like Moxlie Creek". How would we dredge Moxle Creek? It's in a pipe. This reeks of being another a red herring. The true goal is likely to dredge the navigation channel again at great cost. They're going tp explore "habitat restoration opportunities, such as at West Bay Park Lagoon." The lagoon was set aside years ago as mitigation for dredging East Bay. It's the only half way decent habitat in the bay, a 100 year old benthic community. How can we restore that?
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 Report this
Boatyarddog
The Ports Environmental "stewardship" is continuously eroding, trading off local Water Quality for A Failing Marine Terminal. Close the Damn Cash Cow, and we can Promote Tourism. CLOSE the Marine Terminal.
Friday, January 2 Report this