PORT ANGELES — The city of Port Angeles will ante up an additional $1 million to dispose of asbestos it didn’t expect to find as it stabilized its closed landfill.
The change order in the amount of $1,034,524 will bring the project’s cost to at least $14.4 million.
The asbestos was part of the 400,000 cubic yards of trash the city is moving away from a bluff above the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the wake of the discovery that the material was threatening to tumble into the Strait.
The landfill at the end of West 18th Street was closed in 2007, and the area became the city’s transfer station.
Four years later, it was found that the erosion in the bluff above the Strait had exposed garbage that could eventually fall into the water.
Work began last summer to move the refuse about a quarter-mile south. The whole project is expected to be finished next fall.
Most of the asbestos work already has been performed by contractor Magnus Pacific Corp. of Everett, which trucked away more than three times the asbestos it anticipated — some 49 tons — under a contract that called for it to dispose of about 15 tons.
Asbestos that engineers thought could be dug up with hand tools and put into bags wound up being handled with excavators that filled dump trucks, according to Craig Fulton, city public works and utilities director.
“The contractor has completed the work, so they have expended a considerable amount of money to remove the asbestos,” Fulton said.
The work, performed with the help of the state Department of Labor and Industries, required workers to wear protective clothing and hose down vehicles with water cannons.
“There was a clear impact to their productivity when they uncovered the asbestos,” Fulton told City Council members at their meeting Tuesday night.
The contractor and the city remain “very far apart” — to the tune of $2,075,508 — he added, over the added cost of the asbestos removal. Magnus Pacific wants an adjustment of $3,110,032.
“The negotiations are still ongoing. We may have to go into mediation,” Fulton said.
The $1 million-plus the council approved Tuesday, however, will allow Magnus Pacific to pay its workers. Meanwhile, the city may bill the state for the work, he said.
The initial payment, at least, will come from $1.7 million that remains in contingency funds for the project, Fulton said, and the city may be able to get more money from a state trust fund.
“It’s ironic that we can’t see what’s underground,” said Councilman Lee Whetham.
“But that’s part of construction, and that has to be anticipated. We haven’t even hit bottom yet.”
Councilman Dan Gase asked if all the asbestos had been removed from the landfill site.
Fulton said a 3-D image of the area shows only about 2,000 cubic yards remain, compared with the 7,283 cubic yards Magnus Pacific already has removed.
The remainder should be removed in May.
“It’s in a smaller area,” Fulton said. “We can isolate that and continue with the waste removal in the rest of the area.”
The entire landfill stabilization will relocate approximately 400,000 cubic yards of garbage.
The Labor and Industries Department, Fulton said, was innovative in its bulk-handling approach to the asbestos problem.
“That saved millions of dollars,” he said.
Still, he added, the total bill for moving the refuse and stabilizing the area could top $21 million.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com
