PORT ANGELES — An environmental group canceled a kayak tour of Rayonier Inc.’s cleanup site of its former pulp mill because Port Angeles Harbor is too polluted.
The irony of was not lost on Pam Johnson, public outreach coordinator for the Olympic Environmental Council, an umbrella organization for several environmental groups.
“Of course there is irony there, but we will get back out in the water when we can,” Johnson said.
“The pollution is still going to be there, even if the sewage isn’t.”
The Olympic Peninsula Paddlers, a Port Angeles-based kayaking group that is part of the Olympic Environmental Council, was organizing Wednesday’s tour to raise awareness among kayakers about the cleanup issues facing the Rayonier site.
But for three days last month, starting May 23, untreated effluent from the city’s sewer system flowed into the Port Angeles Harbor.
On Friday, Clallam County officials lifted the health advisory on beaches east and west of town, but the advisory remained near the Rayonier site, where elevated bacteria levels were still being recorded in lab tests.
2½-hour tour
Between 15 and 20 people were planning on taking the 2½-hour tour, Johnson said.
She said the visit has not been rescheduled.
“We can’t even think about a date until we hear the beach is open,” Johnson said.
The Rayonier pulp mill closed in 1997, but the site still has low levels of dioxins, PCBs and other toxins in the soil, according to the state Department of Ecology
The 75-acre property is in the fifth year of a toxic-waste cleanup project supervised by Ecology, Rayonier and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
