Can underground storage tanks be placed in the beach areas instead of parks?
No. King County would not receive permitting approval from federal, state, and local jurisdictions to place such a structure on beach areas within Puget Sound. New facilities are subject to stringent review criteria within Puget Sound shoreline areas. For example, the Corps of Engineers (COE) and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) would require King County to demonstrate whether there are other alternatives that are less harmful to fish and wildlife habitat than a proposed storage tank buried on a beach. Since King County has identified alternatives that are feasible and require no in-water work, neither the COE or WDFW would approve a project that proposes to dredge nearshore areas in Puget Sound.
