PNNL seeks City of Sequim water extension

Published 3:30 am Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and City of Sequim officials confirm they’re in discussions to bring city water services to the lab’s Sequim campus, PNNL-Sequim.

This news is a shift from a previously announced plan for utilities at the campus at 1529 W. Sequim Bay Road.

A PNNL spokesperson wrote in a statement that “current discussions are focused on near-term water infrastructure needs, while also maintaining flexibility for future sewer connectivity discussions.”

They said that PNNL and the city are working together on utility planning.

City staffers said at the April 27 city council meeting that they’ve been in contact with PNNL about narrowing the scope of the project and to postpone the sewer hookup and annexation into city limits.

City Attorney Kristina Nelson-Gross said they “are diligently working with them” and that a lift station along West Sequim Bay Road was paused.

In October 2024, PNNL officials said that funding was secured and planning was underway to expand PNNL-Sequim, the Department of Energy’s only marine and coastal research laboratory.

The current spokesperson said “PNNL is currently designing a new waterfront research facility called the ‘Bench to Bay Deployment and Applied Sciences Laboratory,’ which will support the development of next-generation ocean energy technologies and strengthen coastal energy security and grid reliability.”

They said the project is progressing and expected to be completed in 2028.

“The PNNL-Sequim campus is undergoing a significant modernization effort supported by investments from the U.S. Department of Energy and PNNL,” the spokesperson said.

One major addition, they said, is a new set of seawater research tanks located on the shoreline for researchers to study marine environments under controlled conditions.

“PNNL-Sequim is also developing new engineering, chemistry, and biology laboratory capabilities that support a ‘bench-to-bay’ approach, moving research from lab-scale discovery to real-world testing in one location,” the spokesperson said.

As part of the modernization, PNNL is not expanding its land footprint, the spokesperson said.

Asked if there were any impacts from federal administrative changes in funding to PNNL-Sequim, the spokesperson said “PNNL continues to advance Sequim campus infrastructure projects in support of critical marine energy, and coastal research priorities.”

“There are no current impacts on planned infrastructure projects, however as with all such projects, schedule and scope may evolve for a variety of reasons,” they said.

Lift station on hold

A planned lift station at Forrest Road along West Sequim Bay Road for future development in the area, including PNNL-Sequim and potential development around John Wayne Marina, is on hold, according to city staff.

In an email reply, Public Works Director Paul Bucich said through consultation with PNNL, city staff are “planning on pulling out the water line work from the completed plans and specs as PNNL/Dept of Energy have a pressing need for water for fire flow in their new storage building.”

“We are working with them on a utility extension agreement that ensures the city is paid for the design and construction of the new line that will only serve their facility at this time,” Bucich said.

In 2024, PNNL staff said secured funds would help PNNL-Sequim pay to install pipelines from West Sequim Bay Road to the campus as part of the city’s West Sequim Bay Corridor Improvements, a 350-acre corridor project.

Bucich previously said the lift station would serve about 610 acres of land. Cost estimates for PNNL’s modernization and water utility connection projects were not available by press time.

The City of Sequim purchased a parcel at Forrest Road for $70,000 in June 2023 to host the lift station. Bucich said the sewer lift station is on hold “as a major contributor to the station will be any development that occurs down by the John Wayne Marina, e.g. Westbay.”

Seabrook Holding Company’s Westbay is a proposed 600-lot application along West Sequim Bay Road that city staff deemed “technically incomplete” on July 21, 2025. Seven days later, staff recommended a moratorium on master-planned overlays so the city could “ensure that the city regulations, comprehensive plans, and other guiding regulatory documents have reached a level of consistency that will allow the staff, members of the public, and the applicant to have a clear, well defined process,” Nelson-Gross said.

Sequim city councilors approved the moratorium, and extended it in January to July 26.

City staff have indicated that they would continue to ask councilors to extend the moratorium to complete the city’s Comprehensive Plan 2025 update and development regulations.

According to Sequim Planning Commission documents, the current timeline for the Comprehensive Plan states that city staff plan to release the draft plan in its entirety in late June/early July with public outreach in July/August, and public hearings with the planning commission in late August-September, and the city council in late September-October. Councilors would consider approving it then.

Bucich said he’s “not comfortable initiating construction of a ($12 million) project without a solid financial understanding on when new connections will occur and when the major development will need it and pay their contributing portion towards design/construction.”

He estimates a decision being made to move forward with the lift station in the first quarter of 2027.

The city received a Department of Ecology loan to cover construction of the Forrest Road lift station worth $14,726,274 at a 1.6% interest rate starting a year after construction finishes. Sequim also received a loan through Washington State Clean Water State Revolving Fund for design of the station for just over $1 million with forgivable principal.

Last July, city staff confirmed they had stopped exploring an option for various reasons to potentially fund the lift station by creating a 363-acre Tax Increment Area (TIA) by Sequim Bay using new developments’ property taxes to create Tax Increment Financing (TIF). Other junior taxing districts, including Clallam County Fire District 3’s leadership, expressed concerns about the impact of potentially lost tax revenues coming from new development in that proposed area.

More about PNNL-Sequim

PNNL-Sequim sits on the S’Klallam village site of sxʷčkʷíyəŋ, which was purchased by Hans Bugge in 1899, and used as The Bugge Cannery until 1966. In 1972, a fire burned the structure, which later led to laboratories and research space being built in the 1970s.

The PNNL spokesperson said more than 70 staff are based at the Sequim campus with about 95 limited-term employees, such as interns and research assistants working there in the last year.

They said it’s also home to the Department of Energy’s only dive team, and a specialized fleet of vessels and autonomous vehicles, such as the RV Resilience, a first-of-its-kind hybrid research ship.

PNNL-Sequim staff also participate as a board member on the Clallam EDC, engage the community as “STEM Ambassadors” from the grade schools to Peninsula College, and provide annual grants through the Battelle Foundation to support the local community, the spokesperson said.