PORT TOWNSEND — Officials from Port Townsend Paper Corp. are expected to meet with Jefferson County Public Health and state Department of Ecology staff on Wednesday to discuss technical issues surrounding renewal of the company’s disputed landfill permit.
Last October, company lawyer Leslie Nellermoe of Seattle said county Public Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke’s requirement to more tightly regulate the landfill was “arbitrary” and pledged that the company “intends to challenge the decision.”
Company spokesman Chuck Madison, vice president of human resources, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Locke, who is public health officer for both Jefferson and Clallam counties, said Friday that the company’s stance against meeting tighter conditions under a new or revised landfill permit appears to have thawed.
Locke has not received anything in writing from the company, but he took the fact that the company is attending Wednesday’s meeting as a good sign.
“They have directly communicated to me that they will apply for renewal of their permit,” he said.
“I would interpret the fact that they are going ahead with the technical staff meeting that that’s a good-faith gesture on their part,” he said.
“If they were going to apply for a simple renewal, they would not need to do that,” he added.
“That tells me they are working on an application that will meet the new conditions that we are imposing.”
The intent of the meeting, he added, is to work on “specifics of the permit language.”
That was similar to an interpretation offered by Peter Lyon, the regional waste resources manager for Ecology.
“The point of the meeting is to go over or discuss any technical issues for the permit application that the mill may have,” said Lyon, who will be attending Wednesday’s meeting.
Port Townsend Paper is depositing wet, high-alkaline biomass ash at the 3-acre landfill that Ecology officials and Locke believe could pollute groundwater and should be more tightly regulated because of the ash’s high alkaline content.
The landfill is permitted for inert waste such as concrete and aluminum that does not have an impact on the surrounding environment.
Jefferson County issues the permit for the landfill. Any appeal of the permit would go before the Board of Health.
Locke, who is requiring the permit upgrade, has said science has improved in the eight years since the company was granted a less-regulated inert-waste permit.
He is requiring the company to employ a groundwater monitoring plan, add a guarantee it will pay for future closure costs and pledge to conduct detailed tests on the content of the ash deposits.
Locke has set a permit application deadline of Sept. 15 — less than a month away.
The landfill was the focus of a full hour of public testimony at the county Board of Health meeting Thursday.
Board of Health chairman Phil Johnson, also a county commissioner, said Friday that between 35 and 40 people spoke during the hour, most of whom expressed concerns about the site.
Those who defended the company included union members, Johnson said.
Port Townsend Paper is expanding its biomass cogeneration facility to generate 20 megawatts in a $55 million project slated for completion in 2013.
Nippon Paper Industries USA in Port Angeles is also expanding its biomass cogeneration facility to generate 20 megawatts in a $71 million project, also scheduled to go on line in 2013.
Nippon deposits treated biomass ash in a company landfill under requirements that Locke wants to impose on Port Townsend Paper.
Biomass consists of wood waste, construction and lumber scrap, and untreated, unpainted wood left over from demolition.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
