PORT ANGELES — Just over half of 85 soil samples taken in and around Port Angeles by the state Department of Ecology last year detected trace amounts of dioxin that exceed the agency’s cleanup standard.
The department said the data totals show that the carcinogens do not represent a health risk.
That is because the samples — collected last July at 85 locations near and downwind from the site of the former Rayonier Inc. pulp mill — were taken from “undisturbed soil,” such as forested areas where people are unlikely to come into contact with the minute amounts of the chemicals, said Rebecca Lawson, regional manager for Ecology’s toxics cleanup program.
Preliminary results of Ecology’s study were released on Tuesday.
That’s “good news,” said Nathan West, city director of community and economic development.
“Only minor levels of dioxin were found,” West said.
“Department of Ecology will not require property owners to take cleanup action on the basis of this report.”
The preliminary data released Tuesday show 45 out of 85 samples exceeded Ecology’s cleanup levels for dioxin, so minuscule that they are measured by units in 1 trillion units of soil.
Ecology’s cleanup level is 11 parts of dioxin per trillion parts — equating to a cancer risk of one in a million for those who ingest the soil or eat plants grown in it, Lawson said.
Three of the samples contained 30 parts of dioxin per trillion of soil, including one that was 76 parts per trillion.
“Based on the data, we can’t really jump to going out to do any cleanup,” Lawson said.
“They are not high enough to cause immediate action.
“That is not what the study is intended to evaluate.”
Purpose of study
The purpose of the study, she said, is to determine the extent of the environmental cleanup of the pulp mill site on the waterfront in northeast Port Angeles.
The property on which the mill operated for 67 years before closing in 1997 is contaminated with PCBs, dioxin and other toxic chemicals.
Cleanup has been under the supervision of Ecology since 2000.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency said in 2000 that the property is moderately contaminated — perhaps a level of 2 or 3 on a scale of 10.
Lawson said that the data taken from undisturbed soil in the mill’s vicinity seek to accurately assess the amount of dioxin that accumulated in the area.
Ecology’s preliminary report makes no determination on the source of the trace amounts found in the sampling. Dioxins can come from such sources as truck diesel exhaust, wood-burning stoves and trash burn barrels.
Ecology’s final report on the sampling is expected to be released in the spring or early summer.
The study will analyze the chemical structure of the dioxin, which can lead to determining the source, said Kim Schmanke, Ecology spokeswoman.
Lawson and Schmanke said they couldn’t speculate if the report expected later this year will result in further soil sampling, or if further testing will be needed to determine if cleanup will occur.
The report “will give us more information to formulate the next step,” Schmanke said.
“It will give us a basis to say, do we go back and do more testing?”
Human contact
Despite the levels of dioxin found in some of the samples, Schmanke and Lawson said the results are not going to prompt testing in areas where people are more likely to come into contact with soil.
The sampling method wasn’t consistent with determining health risk, they said, and neither could speculate on whether property owners are at risk for exposure to dioxin.
Lawson said none of the properties where contamination was found will be listed as contaminated, but that the data are publicly available.
Each of the property owners where testing occurred volunteered for the study.
Lawson said dioxin levels in gardens would be diluted due to the soil being frequently disturbed.
Cleanup boundaries
Lawson said that if Rayonier is found to be responsible for at least some of the dioxin, the cleanup site boundaries will be extended.
The company would then have to pay for cleanup — if further testing determines that is necessary — and the cost of the sampling.
Ecology also conducted sediment sampling in Port Angeles Harbor last summer.
Those findings are also expected to be released in spring.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
