PORT ANGELES — A new agreement has been drafted between the state Department of Ecology and Rayonier Inc. that is expected to accelerate the stalled cleanup of the company-owned site of a former pulp mill.
Rayonier received a copy of the draft agreement, known as an “agreed order,” Wednesday, but has 60 days to negotiate the details before signing it, said Carla Yetter, Rayonier environmental affairs director.
The agreement would require Rayonier to finish taking soil samples on its 75-acre property in northeast Port Angeles to fill in data gaps and develop a cleanup plan for the land and a portion of Port Angeles Harbor extending about one mile northeast of the land — which the document calls the “study area.”
The creation of a cleanup plan, at least in part, has been delayed because Ecology and Rayonier have not been able to come to an agreement over how large of an area the company is responsible for cleaning up.
The agreed order is intended to resolve that by defining a study area that they can both agree upon.
Ecology maintains that the study area does not define the extent of the cleanup site, which will be expanded if Rayonier is found responsible for further contamination.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
