PORT ANGELES — The former Rayonier Inc. pulp mill site will be cleaned up, no matter what happens to the state Department of Ecology’s budget, said Jim Pendowski, program manager for Ecology’s toxics cleanup program.
Pendowski was speaking to the Harbor-Works Public Development Authority Board of Directors at a meeting on Wednesday.
The comment came in response from a question from board member Bart Irwin over the possibility of budget cuts for Ecology during tough economic times.
Pendowski said cleanup of the 75-acre property, and other areas contaminated by the mill, is a high priority, and Ecology is not interested in any more delays.
“We will have the capacity to pursue this site,” Pendowski said.
“If I have to pull [resources] from other sites, I will.”
Pendowski and Rebecca Lawson, toxics cleanup regional manager, met with board members on Wednesday to speak to them about the progress of the cleanup process and what grant funding Harbor-Works could be eligible to receive if it acquired the Rayonier property.
“I think the whole presentation put things in perspective in terms of the requirements for cleanup of the Rayonier site and opportunities for [Harbor-Works] with Ecology and the community,” said Orville Campbell, board chairman.
Ecology began supervising cleanup of the Rayonier site — along with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and Rayonier — in 2000.
The Rayonier property is contaminated with pockets of PCBs, dioxins, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead and other hazardous contaminants created during the 68 years Rayonier operated a pulp mill there.
The mill, located at the end of Ennis Street, closed in 1997.
Harbor-Works was created by the city of Port Angeles and the Port of Port Angeles in May to acquire the mill property to help direct the cleanup process as well as the future use of the site.
The property is worth approximately $5.2 million, according to the Clallam County Assessor’s Office.
Rayonier responsibility
Lawson said Rayonier has agreed that it is responsible for contamination of the Rayonier property and a portion of the Port Angeles harbor that extends about a mile to the northwest away from the property.
Ecology believes that the company is responsible for contamination elsewhere in Port Angeles and around the harbor.
“Rayonier was not looking beyond their property boundary,” Lawson said.
Since toxics cleanup has the available resources, Pendowski said Ecology can conduct testing, without requiring Rayonier cooperation, to determine the extent of contamination.
Pendowski said this allows Ecology to speed up the cleanup process.
The cleanup site, he said, will include any place that Rayonier is found to be responsible for contamination.
With the help of the tribe, Ecology conducted harborwide sampling during the summer, Lawson said.
Results should be completed early next year.
Additional off-site soil sampling continues in Port Angeles this week.
About 78 samples were taken on property around the city in September to determine if Rayonier’s emissions contaminated soil beyond its property boundary.
Ecology returned this week to conduct further testing on city-, county- and Rayonier-owned property, she said.
Results are expected in the spring.
Grant funding
As a public entity, Harbor-Works could receive a 50 percent matching grant from Ecology for cleanup of the Rayonier site.
A $200,000 “integrated planning grant” also would be available to Harbor-Works to pay for the costs of due diligence, conceptual planning and other work associated with acquiring the property. It would not cover purchasing the property.
If Harbor-Works does acquire the property, Lawson said Rayonier would not escape liability.
As a property owner, Harbor-Works would also be liable for cleanup costs.
Lawson said Harbor-Works could enter into a “prospective purchaser consent decree” with Ecology that would limit its liability.
“It’s a mechanism to settle liability up front before property is bought so that they aren’t in the same boat with other liable parties,” Pendowski said.
Melissa Roarck, assistant attorney general, said at the meeting that an alternative to that would be to settle how much each party would pay for cleanup in a purchase and sale agreement with Rayonier.
“We don’t care which [party] performs,” Lawson said.
“We just want the site cleaned up.”
Harbor-Works funding
Harbor-Works is funded by two $150,000 loans from the city and port.
The port’s loan comes from a $7.5 million settlement from the state as a result of the failed Hood Canal Bridge graving yard project, and the city’s loan comes from its economic development fund.
The loans’ interest rates are tied to the interest rate of the state Local Government Investment Pool, which changes monthly.
Cleanup switched from Ecology’s solid waste division to toxics cleanup in November 2007.
Pendowski said toxics cleanup took over because it has more resources, and can speed up the cleanup process.
Lawson said cleanup of the Rayonier property is expected to be completed by December 2012.
Cleanup of the harbor may take longer, she said.
Initially, Ecology estimated cleanup to be completed in 2004.
Pendowski said cleanup has been delayed because of disagreements between Rayonier and Ecology over the scope of cleanup.
Those disagreements have yet to be settled.
The five-member Harbor-Works board also includes Howard Ruddell, owner of Ruddell Auto Mall; Karen McCormick, president and CEO of First Federal; and Jerry Hendricks, former port executive director.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
