PORT ANGELES — An uplands remedial investigation report for cleaning up the site of the former Rayonier Inc. pulp mill should be ready by the end of June.
That’s what state Department of Ecology project manager Bill Harris told the Port Angeles Business Association at its Tuesday morning meeting at Joshua’s Restaurant and Lounge.
The Rayonier property at the end of Ennis Street is in the fourth year of a toxic-waste cleanup project supervised by Ecology, Rayonier officials and the Lower Elwha tribe.
Harris addressed PABA as part of the business group’s campaign to keep information about the longtime cleanup effort, which began in 2000, before the public.
He was joined by Dana Dolloff, Rayonier environmental affairs director, and David Hanna, cleanup project manager for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
Regulatory agencies
Harris said when he spoke to the group in November, he had a thick three-ring binder that contained the uplands remedial investigation report, which is just now going to the regulatory agencies.
The report went through a four-week review in December, and he heard from everyone he expected, Harris said.
Now Rayonier and Ecology are writing responses to the comments received, he said.
The uplands report will be out for public review by the end of June, and workers could start “turning dirt” on the site by the end of 2006, Harris said.
Some things might be done under an interim cleanup but it shouldn’t take that long once they get started, he said.
Dolloff said they don’t know how long getting the final plan out will take until Rayonier sees what changes are needed, based upon comments from the regulatory agencies.
It will take several weeks to make those changes, he said.
The regulatory agencies include the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, state Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, state Department of Health, state Department of Natural Resources, city of Port Angeles and the Clallam County Health Department.
