Whether it’s considered a landmark or an eyesore, the Enchantress tugboat abandoned in Fidalgo Bay eight years ago will be removed by Global Diving & Storage this fall.

The Seattle company was scheduled to begin work early Monday morning with a survey of the asbestos on board. The cost to dispose of the material could be anywhere from $5,000 to $60,000.

That is in addition to the nearly $300,000 estimated for the project itself, including Global’s construction bid of $220,000 and more than $75,000 in additional costs and taxes.

Actual removal of the vessel will most likely begin Sept. 22, said port environmental administrator Connie Thoman.

The company will put out protective booming around the vessel and pick up any debris going afloat. Any potentially hazardous materials will also be removed before the vessel is broken apart for removal.

She said the company will try to save features like the boards with the Enchantress’ name.

The Port of Anacortes commission authorized staff to proceed with the project at its Sept. 4 meeting. The entire cost will be reimbursed to the port by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources derelict vessel program and the Washington State Department of Ecology, which is overseeing the tugboat’s removal.

The commissioners originally agreed to assist Ecology with construction contracting to remove the tugboat in January. However, after community members led by muralist Bill Mitchell expressed interest in saving the boat, the board agreed to send the issue back to Ecology.

Tim Nord, Ecology Toxics Cleanup Program manager, met with the community in February, when he said Ecology would delay the project for six months to give Mitchell and his group time to come up with an alternative plan.

In addition, Mitchell’s group had to meet Ecology’s criteria to have a hazardous substance assessment done, have a plan to contain those substances, obtain insurance, comply with local, state and federal laws, and have sufficient funding on hand to see the project through completion by an Aug. 15 deadline.

All were impossible to complete in the six-month time frame, Mitchell has said. He also said it was unfair Ecology would not provide any money to help out.

Nord said in February Ecology’s toxic cleanup funds could only go toward cleanup projects, not preservation. He also said the cost to remove the boat in one piece would be considerably more than to dispose of it in pieces.

Mitchell said in February he planned to reorganize the Anacortes Renaissance and Revival Confederation, turn it into a nonprofit entity, organize volunteers and start looking for grants.

Instead the group changed its name to Save Our Shipwreck, worked on raising awareness of the tug and its fate, and tried to convince Ecology to leave the tug where it sits at the end of 34th Street near the former Custom Plywood Mill site.

At last week’s port meeting, Mitchell told the commission he had 212 signatures collected during the weekend of people who want the boat to stay where it is. He also said he had called Global Salvage & Diving representatives, trying to encourage them not to sign the agreement with the port.

Two other residents spoke at the meeting, Eugene Kiver and Virginia Heiner. Both said the tugboat project should go at the end of Ecology’s cleanup list.

The tug was abandoned in 2000 by its owner, Richard Carnes of Sedro-Woolley, who was later shot and killed. The tug sits on the bottom of the bay on aquatic land managed by DNR and became one of several cleanup projects under the Puget Sound Initiative aimed at cleaning up the Sound by 2020.

There was never a question of if the Enchantress would be removed, only where it would go once it was, Nord said. He said Ecology views the vessel as an environmental hazard due to contaminants it could release into the water and a navigational hazard if it breaks up.

In background information provided to the commission, port staff said the group formed to preserve the Enchantress “could not develop a workable plan for doing so.”

Global Diving and Salvage agreed to its original bid to remove the tug and is scheduled to complete the project by the end of October.