PORT ANGELES — The sawdust sifting onto rocks, into sidewalk cracks and onto windows and windshields from the Peninsula Plywood plant has been curtailed, said Josh Renshaw, president.
“A guy loaded it up last night,” he said Friday, referring to hog fuel in the yard. He added that the company bought a second water truck to wet the yard and keep the dust down.
The golden dust from the plywood mill on Marine Drive has come from a growing pile of hog fuel — wood chips and other wood waste — that in ordinary circumstances would be burned as biomass.
But a May 15 fire badly damaged the control room for the mill’s two boilers.
Electricians created a temporary fix that got the mill running quickly — but which meant that it must use diesel fuel instead of biomass.
So the unused hog fuel hill grew and the prevailing wind, blowing out of the west, sent the lighter particles spinning east into Port Angeles’ downtown.
Although neighbors didn’t complain, it worried mill workers, Renshaw said.
“It’s one of those things, we’re thinking, how do we stop this?” he said.
The accumulated hog fuel was sold to Hermann Brothers Log & Construction of Port Angeles.
“We got rid of the source” on Thursday night, Renshaw said, adding that more is being sent to Nippon Paper Industries USA Co on Ediz Hook.
“Now that we’ve knocked it down, we should be able to keep up with it,” he added.
The problem should be solved in September.
New boiler controls and electrical conduits to permit biomass burning is scheduled to be in place by Sept. 13.
The addition will cost about $700,000.
In the meantime, “we’re doing everything we can to stay ahead of it and knock it down,” Renshaw said.
He thanked neighbors for their forbearance.
“I know it was a problem,” he said.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
