PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Ecology will conduct a community meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on the proposed cleanup of the former plywood mill site at 439 Marine Drive.
The meeting will be in Linkletter Hall in the basement of Olympic Medical Center, 939 Caroline St.
The site that once housed KPly and later Peninsula Plywood is owned by the Port of Port Angeles, which has approved an agreed order for the cleanup.
Known contaminants at the site include diesel-, oil-, and gasoline-range petroleum hydrocarbons; benzene, toluene ethylbenzene and xylenes; and pentachlorophenol, known as PCP.
Although it has agreed to clean the site, the Port of Port Angeles hopes to recover at least part of the $5 million cost from the site’s polluters and from insurance.
Port officials have said they want to start cleanup this year and hope to attract marine trade businesses to the site.
The Wednesday meeting will address a remedial investigation/feasibility study, draft cleanup action plan, public participation plan and State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) review.
Draft cleanup plan
The draft cleanup plan calls for:
■ Removing 16,000 cubic yards of polluted soil. Clean soil beneath it will be removed and reused.
■ Using natural organisms that, helped by nutrients and oxygen, will use contaminants for food and break them down.
■ Monitoring soil and groundwater until cleanup standards are met.
Besides the community meeting, Ecology will take public comment on documents related to the cleanup. The deadline for comments is May 4.
Comments are being accepted on the agreed order, the draft cleanup plan, the remedial investigation/feasible study, the public participation plan and the SEPA review.
To view the documents, visit http://tinyurl.com/PDN-millsitecleanup or go to the Port Angeles Library at 2210 S. Peabody St.
Comments are to be made to Connie Groven, site manager, at connie.groven@ecy.wa.gov. Her phone number is 360-407-6254.
