Protesters barricade roads to Maury Island mine

Protesters barricaded two roads at dawn Friday on Maury Island, hoping to stop construction of a loading dock for a gravel mine.

About 50 people gathered at access points to the mining site, owned by Glacier Northwest. Nine formed human blockades, chaining their wrists to each other inside steel pipes anchored to oil drums filled with concrete.

"We hope the rest of our region will take seriously the threat this dock and mine poses to central Puget Sound," said protest spokesman Bill Moyer. "People may not realize that 2 tons to 7.5 million tons of gravel will be loaded up per year."

The 305-foot dock, which will be used to load gravel onto barges, stretches over a state aquatic reserve.

While the protesters kept cars from reaching the site, seven Glacier Northwest workers walked past the barricades.

Glacier Northwest's permit coordinator, Pete Stoltz, released a statement saying the protest had no effect on construction Friday. "It is yet another attempt to draw attention away from the fact that 10 years of environmental scrutiny and legal review have determined this project can proceed and that the environment will be protected," he said in a statement.

Maury Island is connected by land to Vashon Island.

Protest organizers said they wanted the protest to be peaceful and nonviolent. They did not try to physically stop workers from getting to the work site.

Construction work on the dock, which normally starts at 7 a.m., was delayed a few hours, and the protesters who were chained together stayed shackled until about 11 a.m.

Environmentalists have fought the mine's expansion for the past decade. Then in December, outgoing Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland approved a lease permit for the dock, a move environmentalists are challenging in court even as construction of the dock moves forward.

Vashon Island residents hope to slow the dock construction until Jan. 14. The protesters said no construction can take place between Jan. 14 and the end of August because of environmental rules.

Many protesters said they were concerned that gravel spilled from the dock would damage the marine environment, particularly eelgrass beds, where marine creatures spawn, live and forage.

"I'm willing to get arrested for one of the last eelgrass beds in Puget Sound," said Morgan Guion, who grew up on Vashon Island.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com