The top story on Grays Harbor for 2016, as voted on by employees at The Daily World, was the ongoing debate over whether to locate a crude oil shipping terminal on Port of Grays Harbor land in Hoquiam.

It was a top 10 story last year and at the rate the environmental review process is going, it’s likely to be in the top 10 for years to come.

At one time, three different shipping terminals were being considered. Last January, the Renewable Energy Group (formerly Imperium) dropped out, leaving just one company, Westway, still pursuing it. In October, Westway changed its named to Contanda LLC and it continues to seek a facility that would store up to a million barrels of crude oil.

The final environmental impact statement, the guiding document for permit review by several agencies, was finished in September and said a crude oil spill, fire or explosion would cause “significant and unavoidable environmental impacts to health and safety,” but it proposed 69 mitigation measures to offset the risk, among them the use of newer rail cars, escort tugs and caches of spill response equipment.

With release of the environmental impact statement, the focus shifts to the City of Hoquiam. Soon after the first of the year, the city is expected to decide whether to issue a shoreline permit for the project. It could also decide to issue a permit with conditions. Either way, it’s it’s likely to face challenges that could go on for years.

Here are the rest of the stories that made our Top 10.

No. 2 — Homeless struggle continues

Homeless people squatting on private land along the Chehalis River front in Aberdeen were expelled for the second time in as many years.

A substantial number of these people moved into the downtown area. Business owners have been complaining about the relocation of homeless people as they began camping near businesses and, sometimes, in their entryways.

The area church-hosted homeless camp returned to Aberdeen in December. It began there in 2015 after homeless people were ordered to stop squatting on private land along the Chehalis River. Nearby residents met with leaders of the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church to express concerns about the encampment.

Meantime, a committee organized by the county Department of Health continues to meet and discuss long-term solutions.

No. 3 — Man jumps in river to avoid police

Brooke Sandback, a 35-year-old Hoquiam man, drowned when he attempted to elude Hoquiam Police and jumped into the Hoquiam River Sept. 14. He was wearing a heavy coat and a backpack when he jumped in. The Hoquiam Police Department had prior contacts with the individual and knew he had an outstanding felony warrant from the Department of Corrections.

As he reached the middle of the river, he grabbed onto a piling and held onto it for a time. The man then pushed off of the piling and went under water.

A search-and-rescue operation was undertaken for several days and eventually abandoned. Sandback’s body was eventually recovered Oct. 7.

No. 4 — child thrown from bridge

A mother and a male acquaintance faced charges after her 4-year-old son was tossed into the Wynooche River from a bridge in Montesano Aug. 24.

The incident, caught on video and posted to Facebook, showed the man tossing the boy end over end from the train trestle and into to the water below. The mother was waiting in the water to retrieve the boy after the fall. The child was not injured, but onlookers reported it. The 35-year-old male from Aberdeen was cited for reckless endangerment and criminal trespass as the trestle where the incident took place was on private property owned by the rail company.

No. 5 — Trave-Lure Motel

The Trave-Lure Motel in Aberdeen cleaned up its act after a dismal inspection this summer by the state Department of Health. A woman took pictures of her room and posted them online.

The report described accumulated dust, hypodermic needles behind a bed, used condom wrappers, dirty underwear and empty drug baggies strewn around a room, and blood stains on the ceiling and bed sheets.

The bathrooms floor, fixtures and beds were described as very “grimy” and “unsanitary.” In one room, blood spray “from a hypodermic needle was found all over a bathroom ceiling.”

Owners Howard and Cindy Kim spent months cleaning and redecorating rooms. After two more inspections indicated steady progress, the Kims were able to renew their operating licenses.

The establishment was also given a new name, the Wishkah Motel.

No. 6 — Gateway Center plans

Plans for the design of the Gateway Center continue. Public meetings allowing residents to indicate preferences in the design of the building, which will be located at the intersection of Wishkah and F streets in Aberdeen, occurred in the fall. Architects have narrowed it down to four potential styles.

The 20,000-square-foot location would house a visitors and tourism center, a centralized location for the county’s various enterprise and economic development organizations, some retail businesses and space for meeting. Aberdeen officials are waiting to see whether Grays Harbor County Commissioners will take a major role in ownership of the building. The last legislative session produced funding for purchase of the land, but local supporters will be back at the Legislature in 2017 looking for construction funding.

In December, a group seeking to incorporate the facades of the old Selmers building, built in 1924, into the new structure made a strong pitch to the city and its design consultants.

No. 7 — Tsunami shelter

The Ocosta Elementary School became the first vertical-evacuation Tsunami engineered building in North America. The structure was engineered to withstand a magnitude-9 Cascadia megaquake and a subsequent tsunami that it could generate. It is anchored by 169 24-foot diameter piles sunk up to 50 feet deep and engineered to remain secure even if water breaks through the ground floor of the building.

The new facility replaced the old-outdated building erected in 1967, which was plagued with dry rot, mold, failing support structures, and was close to being condemned as unsafe for occupancy.

School Superintendent Paula Akerlund called the new building “a perfect blend of public safety and public education.”

The $16 million price-tag was financed by a bond that received and astounding 70 percent voter approval in 2013.

No. 8 — Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Hundreds of fans gathered in Hoquiam on Aug. 29 to catch rappers Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in concert — a stop on their “Camping Trip” tour around the state. The line stretched from the theater for two blocks along Eighth Street and Simpson Avenue.

Tickets for the Hoquiam show sold out in less than two hours, according to 7th St. Theatre Manager Jamie Brand.

Both men have strong ties to Washington state. Macklemore, also known as Ben Haggerty, is a graduate of The Evergreen State College, and Lewis of University of Washington. This year they have taken a break from their worldwide tour to hit several smaller venues inWashington state. Tickets for each show on the tour were only $20.

Macklemore and creative partner Lewis won four Grammy Awards in 2014 for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album — for “The Heist” — BestRap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Thrift Shop.” Other hits include “Same Love” and “Can’t Hold Us.”

No. 9 — Marijuana stores

Recreational marijuana continued to be a growth industry on the Twin Harbors in 2016 with numerous growing and processing operations and a couple of more pot stores cropping up countywide.

The Port of Grays Harbor, after initially being cool to the potential of the cannabis business, has now leased a 50,000-square-foot warehouse at the Satsop Business Park for an indoor marijuana growing facility.

New pot stores opened in the East County and South Aberdeen — giving Grays Harbor County a total of seven with the possibility of more to come.

No. 10 — County Clerk

In September, longtime Grays Harbor County Clerk Cheryl Brown angered the Sheriff’s office and the Prosecutor’s office by leaking the news that her pastor, Adair Krack of the First Baptist Church in Hoquiam, was about to be arrested on suspicion of child molestation.

Before detectives could arrest Krack, the news reached him. Sheriff Rick Scott was furious and said Krack could have destroyed evidence, fled or resisted arrest by detectives.

Krack,67, remains charged with two counts of molestation.

Brown, who admitted she had called an elder in the church community, responded to criticism by saying the information was public once it was filed and what she did wasn’t against the law.

Sheriff Scott said at the time that Brown’s action amounted to official misconduct, but “overriding that is what you can do and what you should do are two different things.”