The Port of Anacortes commission approved an additional $89,100 to remove what remains of the Enchantress tugboat from Fidalgo Bay at its Nov. 6 meeting.
The funds, as with the other $391,000 going to the project, will be reimbursed to the port by the Washington State departments of Ecology and Natural Resources.
The extra funds are needed to bring in a 200-ton crane to remove the engine block that weighs more than originally estimated. The entire tug was thought to weigh about 460 tons, but instead weighs about 900 tons. The cost to remobilize is estimated at slightly more than $52,000.
Nearly $33,000 is also needed for unanticipated disposal fees by Global Diving & Salvage, which removed the bulk of the abandoned tug Sept. 23. The company disposed of significantly more debris at a hazardous waste landfill than it had expected to, according to the port. The rest of the money is for additional taxes.
On its original trip out, Global brought a 150-ton barge mounted crane to do the work, but needed a bigger capacity one after finding the tug weighed almost twice as much as anticipated. The company is scheduled to come back Dec. 8 and 9 when the tides are favorable to remove the engine and part of the keel attached to it that still rests on the bottom of the bay.
Once the engine is out, the company plans to bring in a smaller crane and divers to pick up any remaining material left from the tug.
The removal of the tug, which Ecology saw as a potential environmental hazard, was done under the governor’s Puget Sound Initiative.
The former U.S. Army tug was abandoned in 2000 on DNR aquatic lands by a Sedro-Woolley resident who was later shot and killed.
