Governor comes bearing a gift -

By David Wilkins - Daily World writer, The Aberdeen Daily World , October 13, 1999

Faced with a dismal, swampy area bisected by the ailing Aberdeen Industrial Waterline, Governor Gary Locke didn't hesitate.

Flanked by Grays Harbor County Public Services Director Mike Daniels, Locke walked on a narrow plywood plank out into the muck to get a closer look at a gushing leak in the 60-year-old wooden stave waterline that feeds both Weyerhaeuser in Cosmopolis and Grays Harbor Paper in Hoquiam.

Then he came back to dry land and presented Daniels with a check for $3.5 million dollars.

"You were saying earlier that this (waterline) was built about 60 years ago, when there were no customers for it," Locke told Daniels and a group of county officials. "And that really demonstrates that if you build basic infrastructure - roads, sewer, water mains - and expand them, businesses will come. The key now, as our population grows, is to make sure that we are modernizing these systems, and making them bigger to accommodate that growth."

The $3.5 million presented by the governor on Tuesday was a grant approved by the Legislature in the last session, and brings the total grant and loan funding raised by the multi-jurisdictional group that is overseeing the project up to $7.5 million of the $11 million estimated cost of replacing the line.

The remaining $3.5 million is expected to be covered by funding proposals that are now pending before the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

The 36,000 foot, 54-inch diameter wooden pipe has ruptured three times in the last five months, according to Daniels. Each rupture has caused a 12 to 15-hour shutdown at Grays Harbor Paper.

"A long-term shutdown would be catastrophic," Daniels said.

The leak that the governor took a closer look at was in a section of the pipe about 15 feet from the edge of Hagara Street in Junction City. A county crew had already put a sandbag on top of the hole to help maintain pressure in the pipe and prevent the hole from getting any bigger, Daniels said.

Water was gushing out from under the sandbag in a steady stream nearly four inches across.

"We're going to work with you on making sure this gets done," said Locke, who also cited the work of local legislators like Sen. Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, and Reps. Mark Doumit and Brian Hatfield, Democrats from Cathlamet and Raymond in pushing appropriations for the waterline through the Legislature. "You've got some great champions working for you in this area."

The replacement of the line is scheduled to take place over the next two years, according to Daniels. Now that funding is in place, he said, the next hurdle will be trying to expedite the permitting process. Nearly 11,000 feet of the line runs through wetlands, and Daniels noted that the wooden pipe actually floats on top of the watery areas and bobs up and down with the tides.

For ceremonial purposes, Locke presented Daniels with a cardboard check about four feet wide.

"Now that I have the check," quipped Daniels, "I'd like to thank the governor, and say "Let's do this again next month.' "

Locke stressed the value of cooperation between agencies at different levels to get projects like the waterline done.

"This represents the type of partnership that is possible with local and state government coming together," Locke said. "This will keep 242 workers (at Weyerhaeuser and Grays Harbor Paper) on the job, and also pave the way for increased industrial development."

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