PORT TOWNSEND — A community outreach effort by the Port Townsend Paper Corp. has already improved public perception of the mill, a chamber of commerce audience was told Monday.
“If people don’t know what you are doing, they will make something up. People are very creative,” said Kevin Scott, the company’s sustainability manager, in front of about 50 people at the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce’s meeting.
“But if you are upfront and tell them what’s going on, it helps, and our relationship with the community is very good now.”
Scott was one of four mill employees who addressed the chamber Monday, joining General Manager Carr Tyndall, Environmental Officer Annika Wallendahl and Executive Assistant Rita Hubbard.
Wallendahl said the new policies have included inviting the local media for tours and interviews, instituting public tours, establishing a complaint line, talking to community members in a one-on-one format and publishing an online newsletter designed to keep the public aware of mill improvements and environmental projects.
The company said it has also improved its website, www.ptpc.com, which includes job postings, product information and educational outreach information.
The mill held its first open house since 1949 in September, which drew over 400 community members and also improved relations, Wallendahl said.
“A lot of people couldn’t make the open house, so we now offer mill tours around once a month,” Wallendahl said.
Another important outreach program is the mill’s support of community and nonprofit groups.
Tyndall said the company has a line item for community contributions and considers each request for funding on an individual basis.
“We focus on a lot of the youth groups but will fund other things,” said Hubbard, who administers the allocations.
“Everything is subject to approval, but we have a little bit of leeway. As long as you have a good argument as to why you need the money, we can look at it and support it any way we can.”
The increased community goodwill is related to the mill’s efforts to clean up the environment and decrease the odors that emanate from the plant, Wallendahl said.
The company sponsored an odor reduction trial in 2013 that used a robotic raft to inject 6,000 pounds of liquid oxygen daily into the treatment pond, a process that reduced some of the odors, but did not eliminate them.
After the successful trial, the raft is now in full operation.
“We were grateful for the community involvement, it gave us access to a lot more input than we could have gotten on our own,” she said.
Water conservation is one of the company’s biggest concerns, especially if dry conditions continue through the summer.
Tyndall said that the mill’s water use has already been reduced from 15 million to 10 million gallons daily, and that number will decrease even further.
Scott said that he is working on a program to save 3 million gallons a day through reuse of the mill’s effluent, and Tyndall feels that other reuse processes will provide similar savings.
The drought conditions have pushed forward the annual mill closure — usually in December, it could begin as early as October.
“Efficient reuse of water is one of the biggest issues we face,” he said.
“With current drought conditions we are worried about what will happen in the fall. We are very worried that if we don’t get rain we may need to shut down for a while.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
