Environmental issues on Maury Island

The environmental issues on Maury Island are linked to broader Puget Sound environmental issues, which include concerns regarding declining salmon and forage fish populations, degrading critical marine and shoreline habitats, and threatened species such as the Orca.

Many of these concerns are centered on the proposed expansion of the a gravel site owned by Glacier Northwest.

The primary environmental issue on Maury Island is Glacier Northwest's proposal to expand its gravel mine, located in the southern part of the island. Glacier Northwest has operated the mine on the island since the 1940s, but in 1998 it announced its proposal to expand the operation to approximately 7.5 million tons of gravel a year. According to Glacier Northwest senior executives in a presentation at the University of Washington in April 2005, the expansion of its South Maury Island mine is in the interest of the Pacific Northwest as a whole. They claim Washington uses approximately 75 million tons of gravel and sand per year; seven tons per person, per year. The Seattle/Tacoma area uses 48% of all sand and gravel, making the South Maury Island site centrally located for supplying this demand. They estimate economic growth in the Puget Sound region between 2000-2020 will require an additional 22 million tons of gravel per year. They claim that Washington, and particularly the Seattle/Tacoma area, may benefit from an expansion of local sand and gravel mines. There is also potential for the construction of a third runway at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that would require large quantities of sand and gravel. Many people believe that South Maury Island is one of the most sensitive places to mine due to the amount of wildlife the area supports; however, Glacier Northwest claims that mining on the island and barging the gravel off the site will have fewer environmental impacts than would mining somewhere else and transporting the gravel by truck. Grassroots efforts and litigation have managed to postpone the proposed expansion yet.

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