Posted on January 15, 2025
That sand, other materials would be used to make concrete
The Port of Kalama may get an unloading terminal for sand dredged from the Columbia River and other material used to make concrete.
The proposed plan from Northwest Aggregates Co., which is a subsidiary of West Coast cement giant CalPortland, comes as some say Southwest Washington is running low on materials used to make concrete amid continuing industrial development.
“It’s a good-quality material that we’ll be able to bring into the region at an affordable price and that’s really what we’re looking to do here,” said Josh Nelson, general manager of CalPortland’s Oregon Southwest Washington division.
That material, known as concrete aggregate, is made up of sand, gravel and crushed rock.
If the project is successful, that material will be unloaded at a 10-acre riverfront site about 2 miles south of Kalama near the Temco terminal. Some aggregate will be barged across the Columbia from CalPortland’s Scappoose, Ore., aggregate mine. Other material will come from the company’s dredge, which pays to remove sand from the river’s shipping channel.
Right now, CalPortland has to get the aggregate it uses for Cowlitz County-based projects from its facility at the Port of Vancouver, said Bryan Wigginton, senior environmental manager at the company.
And while housing construction in Cowlitz County has decreased in recent years, the county is seeing a boom in industrial and infrastructure development, Nelson said.
“That’s the reason why we’re moving into Kalama,” he added.
Expected savings
The potentially increased efficiency comes with significant cost savings that Nelson said will be passed on to customers.
It costs roughly $80 to drive a loaded dump truck from the Vancouver location to Kalama. But one barge load can save 80 to 100 dump truck trips, Wigginton said.
Once operational, environmental permitting documents show the $3.8 million project would operate around the clock, unloading one or two barges each day.
With numbers like that, it’s easy to see why the company is now spending about $11,000 a month to rent the site from the Port of Kalama. The lease began in 2020 for just a fraction of that, then expanded this year to now continue on until 2040, with the option to extend it to 2070, explained port spokesperson Dan Polacek.
“The new terminal will complement the port’s mission by supporting jobs and increasing tax revenues, while offering a myriad of environmental benefits,” Polacek said. “Shorter barge routes, leading to less marine traffic, improved public and environmental safety, and lower emissions from reduced vessel travel distances.”
The project will also create about 10 temporary construction jobs, and two to three permanent jobs, Nelson said.
Cory LeeAnn Shaw, executive director of the Washington Aggregates & Concrete Association, celebrated the plan, noting that the region needs an ever-increasing amount of aggregate to meet demands from a growing population.
The project is still in the early stages of gaining permitting approval and will be in public comment period until Jan. 14.
After that, the project will have a public hearing, more review, be sent to the Washington Department of Ecology for another review and then the company would apply for building permits, Cowlitz County Senior Environmental Planner Cody Crytzer explained.
It will also have to win approval at the state level from the Department of Fish and Wildlife and at the federal approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wigginton said.
While the timeline hasn’t yet been cemented, Wigginton said he expects the project to break ground in late 2025 or 2026.
