PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Health Department wants to know exactly how dangerous it is to eat fish and shellfish from Port Angeles Harbor after a study found several contaminants in excess of screening levels.
The long-delayed $1.5 million report, conducted by the state Department of Ecology and released Wednesday, found 22 of its 172 sediment samples exceeding standards for pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, mercury and arsenic.
Large amounts of wood debris also were found in the western harbor and around the former Rayonier mill site.
Ecology took 18 samples from fish and shellfish.
The agency concluded that the cancer risk exceeded 1 in 100,000 for both subsistence and recreation fishermen due to high levels of arsenic and PCB in the tissue.
The report doesn’t say how much has to be consumed for the risk to be met.
Dr. Tom Locke, health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties, said he wants more information on the health risks of eating shellfish and fish from the harbor, including data on how much people have to consume to be at risk.
Locke said he has requested that the state Department of Health conduct its own study, which he expects to occur sometime this year, to determine whether new closures or advisories should be put into effect.
“In order to really make a good determination, we need another level of analysis,” he said.
The harbor already is closed to clamming, and an advisory has been in place since 2007 for harvesting crabs.
“My first impression is, yes, the crab advisory should continue,” Locke said.
“The question now is should it be extended to fish.”
Ecology’s report, initially expected to have been completed in late 2009, is part of the state’s larger effort to clean up Puget Sound.
Rebecca Lawson, regional manager for Ecology’s toxics cleanup program, said the data weren’t too surprising for an industrial harbor.
The variety of pollutants shown in the study points to multiple polluters as sources, she said.
But Lawson said it’s too early to say who is to blame, though mill and log storage activities are all candidates.
The study shows concentrations of pollutants both in the western harbor, where currents tend to trap sediment, and in the vicinity of the former Rayonier mill site.
“We will be looking to identify and begin the process to work with other entities we think are legally responsible for contaminating in the inner harbor,” she said.
“And we will ultimately want to work with them to develop a cleanup plan for parts of the harbor.”
Cleanup could involve dredging of areas with the highest concatenations of pollutants, Lawson said.
Rayonier already has agreed to clean up 1,325 acres of the harbor as part of the cleanup project of its former mill site at the end of Ennis Street.
Lawson said the company will use the study for that effort, though its delayed release will impact that time line.
Rayonier is scheduled to have a draft cleanup plan ready around the end of 2013.
That may have to be pushed back to the following summer, Lawson admitted.
“It looks to me now it’s going to push into 2014,” she said, adding it could add a six-month delay.
Lawson said she also is hopeful cleanup work on the rest of the harbor will begin around summer 2015.
Representatives of Nippon Paper Industries USA, the city of Port Angeles and the Port of Port Angeles said they expect to be named as liable parties for the cleanup.
Both the city, which has released wastewater into the harbor, and the port, which manages log storage activities, said they plan to hire a consultant to advise them on the cleanup process.
“We think it’s very important to clean up our harbor,” City Manager Kent Myers said.
“A clean harbor is in our long-term interests.”
A Rayonier spokesperson didn’t return a request for comment last week.
Ecology is accepting comments on its report from Thursday through March 23.
It can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/harborreport.
Comments can be emailed to Connie Groven, environmental engineer, at connie.groven@ecy.wa.gov or by mail to Groven, project manager, toxics cleanup program, P.O. Box 47775, Olympia, WA 98504-7775.
Ecology also will conduct a public open house and presentation from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 13, at Olympic Medical Center’s Linkletter Hall, 939 Caroline St.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
