Aberdeen, WA - The state is moving ahead with plans to buy 55 acres in Aberdeen for construction of a casting facility and 33 massive concrete pontoons for a new State Route 520 floating bridge.

In coming weeks, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) plans to complete its $4.8 million purchase – minus $648,000 previously paid – of Weyerhaeuser’s Aberdeen Log Yard.

Since 2009, WSDOT had options to purchase either the Aberdeen site or an alternate 90-acre site in Hoquiam owned by Anderson & Middleton. WSDOT recently notified property owners that the Aberdeen site will be purchased.

WSDOT announced the Aberdeen site in August 2009 as its preferred location for the Pontoon Construction Project. An environmental analysis of the Aberdeen and Hoquiam sites confirmed the Aberdeen site as a better location due in part to lower development costs and fewer design risks.

Portland, OR - The Bonneville Power Administration wants to know if 25-year-old technology can be updated and improved to provide significant electricity savings in the Pacific Northwest.  The agency is partnering with the Electric Power Research Institute and 11 regional utilities as part of a national pilot project for heat pump water heaters.

To understand the concept of heat pumps, imagine a refrigerator working in reverse.  While a refrigerator removes heat from an enclosed box and expels that heat into the surrounding air, a heat pump water heater takes the heat from surrounding air and transfers it to an enclosed tank to heat the water and then vents the cold exhaust air from the unit. While this results in some great cooling side benefits in hotter regions of the country, these field tests will determine their effectiveness in cold climates and their savings potential in the Pacific Northwest for this technology.

Olympia, WA - Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) offices, along with many other state-run offices, will close Monday, Oct. 11, for the fourth statewide, unpaid, employee-layoff day.

During the closure, WDFW wildlife areas and water-access sites will remain open for public use, but WDFW hatcheries will not be open to the public. Fishing and hunting licenses will remain available for purchase online at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/ and at retail vendors.

Ten statewide, temporary layoff days are mandated by ESSB 6503 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6503), adopted by the 2010 Legislature to help balance the state budget in the face of a revenue shortfall.

Olympia, WA -Clam diggers today got the go-ahead to proceed with the first razor-clam dig of the fall season, starting at noon Thursday, Oct. 7 at Twin Harbors beach and expanding to four other ocean beaches Friday and Saturday.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) approved the digs at all five beaches after marine toxin tests confirmed the clams were safe to eat.

For the first opening, razor-clam digging will be allowed Oct. 7-10 at Twin Harbors beach and Oct. 8-9 at Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch and Long Beach. No digging will be allowed before noon on any of the five razor-clam beaches.

The National Park Service scheduled the dig at Kalaloch Beach, which is located within the Olympic National Park, to coincide with those at Mocrocks and Copalis beaches. 

All diggers age 15 or older must have an applicable 2010-11 fishing license to harvest razor clams on any beach. Licenses, ranging from a three-day razor clam license to an annual combination fishing license, are available on WDFW’s website at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov  and from license vendors around the state.

Raymond, WA - Salmon and other fish soon will have any easier swim in Norris Slough under SR 105 to Willapa Bay. Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) begins work Thursday, Oct. 7 to replace a narrow culvert with a new bridge on SR 105 about 16 miles west of Raymond.

The project also will reduce erosion in the area. But traffic on SR 105 could get messy when construction begins. Crews will keep one lane of traffic moving at all times during construction by building a temporary detour road on the south side of the highway. WSDOT will maintain Traffic flow day and night with a temporary signal.

Daytime single-lane closures could cause travel delays of up to 20 minutes. Around-the-clock single-lane closures will begin later this year when crews will start building the new bridge, requiring traffic to follow a longer detour. This $2.9 million project is funded through state and federal highway improvement funds.