Too bad the U.S. Open golf course thing has been done

The Port of Tacoma has a gravel mine on its hands that it would like to unload;

The port has had the rural tract on the market since 2013 when a sand and gravel consortium that had contracted to buy the property withdrew from the deal. The company had agreed to pay a total of $17 million in cash and sand and gravel, but backed out after paying only $1.2 million, the port announced.

$17 million for property that;

The port bought the acreage in 2006 for $21.25 million with an ambitious plan to use the tract for a rail yard to improve the storage and switching of long container and unit trains destined for the port’s Tacoma Tideflats terminals and industrial sites. The port also sought to mine the glacial sand and gravel on the site for building activities. Together with environmental and site improvement costs, the port has invested a total of $27.5 million in the site.

Which wasn't enough to make the environmentalists happy, so the county government impeded the mining operations there, and ended up losing a lawsuit that is being appealed in the state's courts to this day. The $12 million dollar judgment against the county presumably being the value of the 'sand and gravel' mentioned in the first paragraph quoted above.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/06/22/3850854/port-of-tacoma-once-again-puts.html#storylink=cpy