PORT ANGELES — There are two distinct areas of relatively high concentrations of pollution in the sediments of Port Angeles Harbor, and it may come from a variety of sources, Department of Ecology officials said.
Ecology scientists recently completed a $1.5 million study of the harbor’s sediments, using both shallow and deep core samples throughout the harbor, and presented a series of maps detailing how sediments move within the harbor — and what contaminants are in the soil and debris — at a public open house Tuesday.
More than 100 people attended the meeting.
Among them were the three Port of Port Angeles commissioners, Port Executive Director Jeff Robb, Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire, Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd and Port Angeles City Manager Kent Myers.
Port Angeles Harbor has a 100-year history of industry in and around the harbor and the six streams that empty into the harbor, said project manager Connie Groven.
That includes the Rayonier site on the east side of the harbor, an Ecology cleanup site since 2000 that is contaminated with dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls — or PCBs — and other toxins generated during the site’s 68 years as a mill — now dismantled — that transformed wood to pulp.
The study maps of contaminants show pollution in the harbor is not only in the Rayonier area.
“There are many potential sources” of contaminants, Groven said.
Ecology is putting together the evidence needed to name “potentially liable persons” — the parties responsible for cleanup.
While Ecology plans to look at both past and present uses of the harbor and waterfront, the current owner of the source properties, including government agencies, likely will be held liable, Groven said.
The Ecology study sampled 800 locations to determine sediment movement in the bay and samples taken from shallow scoops and deep cores in 140 locations throughout the harbor.
“The bay is not one giant eddy,” said Groven.
There is a line in the middle of the harbor, from Valley Creek to Ediz Hook, that sediments rarely cross during normal conditions.
Sediments east of the line generally remain to the east, and sediments west of the line remain to the west, she said.
The study showed a small but dense area of sediment contamination around the Rayonier property on the east side of the harbor on one side of the line and a larger spread of contamination on the other.
Ecology samples from sediments immediately surrounding the former mill site owned by Rayonier found relatively high concentrations of metals, phthalates, phenols, PCBs, zinc, polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins.
“PCBs are very high around the mill site,” Groven said.
Despite the overall high rates, only one sampling site actually exceeds state limits, she said.
Mercury also was found in a log pond at Rayonier.
Ecology also found large amount of wood debris in areas where logs were rafted.
Wood debris “can smother habitat and cause a lost step in the food chain,” Groven said.
The debris also produces ammonia and sulfides as it rots, she said.
Groven said elevated levels of ammonia and sulfides were found in areas associated with historic log rafting.
Pollution from the Rayonier site extends to areas around the mill’s dock and deep water outfalls north of the site.
Rayonier 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, said Rebecca Lawson, southwest regional manager for Ecology’s toxics cleanup program.
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 2014, with work beginning in the summer of 2015.
Ecology samples from sediment in the western-most inner harbor area near Nippon Paper Industries USA showed metals, phthalates, mercury and dioxins, while the inner harbor near Boat Haven Marina showed elevated levels of phthalates, phenols, zinc, PCBs and metals.
The inner harbor is an accretion area — sediments build up but do not have an outlet, the Ecology study found.
Gravity is slowly pulling the mass of sediments into the deepest part of the harbor, but otherwise, there is little or no movement, Groven said.
Eating fish or shellfish from the contaminated areas can result in an increased cancer risk, Groven said.
The risk depends on the amount eaten, she said.
There is substantially more risk to a “subsistence fisherman,” one whose diet includes a large amount of protein from the contaminated area, than an occasional or recreational fishermen, she said.
It is unlikely that swimming or other skin contact will cause illness due to the contaminants, Groven said.
The only place Ecology found pesticides was in the area near downtown and City Pier, which was relatively clear of most of the contaminants
Most maps showed that sediments near Hollywood Beach and other areas around City Pier are relatively clear of pollution.
A public comment period on the study will be open until May 22.
Documents can be found at http://tinyurl.com/86hwawj; the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.; and Peninsula College, 502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Comment can be submitted online at http://tinyurl.com/86hwawj.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
