PORT ANGELES — The Polar Pioneer oil rig’s departure from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to Port Angeles is imminent, a Shell Oil Co. spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The 355-foot-tall rig that anchored in Port Angeles Harbor for a month this spring beginning in April will leave for the North Olympic Peninsula “in the next day or so,” Shell spokeswoman Megan Baldino said.
Local officials said its presence poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy in rig maintenance, food, lodging and other services before heading up to Alaska.
The Polar Pioneer’s upcoming return was greeted with jubilation Tuesday by Smugglers Landing owner Rick Mathis, whose restaurant and lounge sits smack dab on the city’s waterfront on East Railroad Avenue.
Last spring, it became somewhat of a tourist attraction, Mathis said.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “It’s quite the economic windfall. It’s something to bring people to town.”
Baldino said she did not know how long the mammoth Polar Pioneer would be in Port Angeles while offloading equipment and supplies.
The rig had stayed for 26 days — between April 17 and May 14 — during its previous stopover.
“You could say it would be similar to our stay prior to going to Alaska,” Baldino said.
The Polar Pioneer had joined the Noble Discoverer oil rig in Dutch Harbor after departing the Arctic Ocean following Shell’s unsuccessful hunt for oil in the Chukchi Sea.
The company announced plans in late September to abandon that effort.
The Noble Discoverer departed Monday from Dutch Harbor for Everett, KUCB community broadcasting in Unalaska reported Monday.
The Polar Pioneer will be towed to Port Angeles by the Ocean Wind and Ocean Wave tugboats, KUCB said.
The fact that Shell has encountered environmental protesters and city officials who tried blocking the rig from anchoring at the Port of Seattle had nothing to do with the company’s decision to head to Port Angeles instead of Seattle, Baldino said.
“It didn’t factor into our decision, not any of the activity or activism,” she said.
“We no longer need an overwintering location,” Baldino explained.
“Because we are not going back to Alaska, we just need to offload some supplies, and we know we can do it in [Port Angeles and Everett].
“We did it successfully prior to the [drilling] season, and so we are choosing to go back to those locations.”
Baldino said she does not know the Polar Pioneer’s destination once it leaves Port Angeles.
“Those details are being worked out,” she said.
Mathis recalled his restaurant being filled last spring with oil rig workers and protesters at the same time.
One patron who sympathized with the oil workers yelled “Environmental terrorist!” at the environmentalists, Mathis said.
“It was kind of comical,” he added.
Mathis also was given a tour of the Polar Pioneer and stood on the flight deck, high above the water.
“You can’t get much higher than that,” he said.
The rig was spotless, Mathis added.
“They put of lot of work into it,” he said.
Willie Nelson, owner of All Points Charters & Tours, said Tuesday he is “ecstatic” about the Polar Pioneer’s upcoming arrival.
He said he has yet to sign any contracts with any companies affiliated with the rig, although he has discussed doing so with three outfits.
The Polar Pioneer’s springtime stay was welcome relief from the snowless winter, Nelson said.
“Them coming here helped make that up, some of it, but not all of it,” he said.
“It was a huge shot in the arm.”
Companies contracted for transportation from workers’ hotel rooms to the dock and to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
“It was a big deal, and I’m looking forward to doing it again,” Nelson said.
“We all have our fingers crossed.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
