PORT ANGELES — The future of the Rayonier property may be out of Port Angeles’ hands.
Rebecca Lawson, regional toxics cleanup program manager for the state Department of Ecology, told about 30 people at the Port Angeles Business Association breakfast Tuesday that neither the city nor the Port of Port Angeles meets requirements to have a seat on a multiagency committee that could have the final say over use of the 75-acre site.
That group — known as a natural resource damages assessment council — has the role of approving a habitat restoration plan that the company will use to compensate the damage its mill caused to the marine environment.
It is made up of state, tribal and federal agencies that oversee management of natural resources.
Rayonier has developed a concept for the plan that some worry could lead to the entire waterfront parcel being returned back to its natural state.
If approved by the council, the plan could prohibit development on the property, considered the most valuable unused piece of real estate not just in the city, but on the entire North Olympic Peninsula.
In response, the city and port, which had sought control of the site through the failed Harbor-Works Development Authority, both have requested a seat on the council.
Lawson, who also oversees the environmental cleanup of the site, told the business group it would not be appropriate for either to sit on the council since neither regulates natural resources and because they have a separate goal of setting aside at least some of the property for development.
That brought objections from some in the audience.
Tim Smith, a former city economic and community development director, told Lawson that Port Angeles is not just interested in development.
“We are offended, and the silence is offending,” he said.
“I hear that,” Lawson responded.
Lawson, who represents Ecology as the lead government entity on the council, said she will seek input from the city and port on any potential decisions.
Neither would hold any decision-making authority.
It’s up to Gov. Chris Gregoire to decide whether they can be formally part of the process, she said.
Both the city and port have requested seats on the council with Gregoire. Neither has heard back.
Step up pressure
Mayor Cherie Kidd said after the meeting that the city will step up the pressure.
“We can’t be slighted, ignored, in this very important issue,” she said.
“It’s unacceptable for us to be left out and not even being responded to.”
Lawson said the council — which includes Ecology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes — does not have the authority to tell Rayonier what to do with the property.
The Jamestown S’Klallam tribe also has been a supporter of development of the property.
The council’s role is to ensure that Rayonier’s restoration plan resolves its liability for damage to natural resources.
What that liability is has not been determined.
No conclusion
Carla Yetter, Rayonier environmental affairs director, said in a phone interview that the company has not come to any conclusion on how much of the property it will seek to restore.
Lawson said after the meeting that Rayonier has expressed interest in essentially using the site as a bank for habitat restoration, with other companies contributing money to resolve their own liability for damages to natural resources.
Yetter acknowledged that is an option available to companies like Rayonier going through a natural resource damages assessment.
“Obviously, if we had a project that had extra credits, we would be interested in that,” she said.
Asked if the company is considering proposing a restoration plan that would produce extra credits that it could then sell, Yetter said:
“It’s premature to say that’s our goal.
“We really, truly are trying to focus on the cleanup.”
Yetter said it’s also too early to say whether habitat restoration would allow for development. She declined to say what options the company is considering, adding:
“We have not made a final decision on future use.”
Rayonier may not have to use the entire site for restoration, Lawson said.
The company also simply can contribute funds to a habitat restoration account to settle its liability, she said.
Habitat restoration likely would not occur until after 2015, Lawson said.
Yetter said Rayonier wants habitat restoration and environmental cleanup to occur together.
The Rayonier site has been an Ecology environmental cleanup project since 2000. Rayonier has until December 2014 to propose a cleanup plan.
The company’s mill closed in 1997.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
