Though they haven’t adopted firm positions for or against the proposed project, Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County, and Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, expressed concerns whether an industrial facility would blend into the rural south county prairie near Millersylvania State Park.

“I’m very skeptical about that site,” Fraser said last week. “It’s in a quiet, rural area near a heavily used state park.”

Though the Maytown site isn’t in his legislative district, DeBolt, too, warned of the impact that the cargo center, proposed by the ports of Tacoma and Olympia, would have on traffic and the environment of the prairie.

“I’m a person who believes in growth, but this facility will have a very heavy impact,” DeBolt said. “It has to have some negative impact. Shouldn’t you choose something of a less-impactful industry to put there?”

Besides Millersylvania, a neighboring state preserve includes rare prairie habitat, oak woodlands and wetlands that are home to more than a dozen unusual fish, bird, butterfly and plant species.

The Tacoma port bought the site in 2006 to study whether it would support a development where trains and trucks could exchange cargoes. The aim, port officials said, was to design a facility that would speed deliveries by taking trucks off nearby Interstate 5 and maintain a competitive advantage for the two regional ports with other ports.

The ports studied 16 other Western Washington sites, and last month identified three others – two in Thurston County and the other in Lewis County – as others that might work. Those sites aren’t owned by either port.

The Maytown site would require rezoning approved by Thurston County officials.

Commissioners for both ports must decide on a site and have pledged to do an environmental impact statement if they develop the facility.

Maytown-area residents, known as Friends of Rocky Prairie, have expressed concerns about the development’s impacts on wildlife, air and water quality, noise, traffic and their property values. About 300 people, many opposed to the project, attended a meeting about it recently at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey.

Deputy Tacoma port executive director John Wolfe has said he is unsure when Tacoma officials will select a site or proceed with development.