Point of View: Too much power in State Dept. of Ecology concerning Rayonier cleanup site?

 

by Kaj Ahlburg

In an interview published on December 20 a Department of Ecology (DoE) employee stated that it is “not appropriate” and “doesn’t make sense” for the City of Port Angeles to participate as a trustee in the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process regarding the Rayonier site.

 

As background, polluters are assessed damages for the harm they caused to the environment through a NRDA process, and can obtain NRDA credits to offset those damages by taking actions deemed to benefit the environment. In the case of the Rayonier site, one of the actions that could earn Rayonier valuable of NRDA credits, possibly worth even more than the fair market value of the property once cleaned up, is agreeing to leave the Rayonier site fenced off and undeveloped forever. These credits could be the deciding factor as to whether Rayonier decides to sell the property once cleaned up and allows it to come back into productive use, or whether the property remains forever undeveloped and off limits to the public.

 

The latter outcome would mean no industrial development, as favored by the Port of Port Angeles, no Native American tribal center, as favored by the Jamestown S’Klallam, and no city park, as favored by some in the local environmental community. It means no jobs and no tax revenue in perpetuity from a site that used to support 365 family wage jobs as well as 1265 spin-off jobs1 and, directly and indirectly, pumped millions of dollars in property and sales tax revenues every year into the City’s coffers.

 

It should be clear that the determination of how many NRDA credits Rayonier can obtain, and in return for what actions (or inaction), is of crucial interest to the City of Port Angeles.

 

Currently the NRDA Trustee Council for the Rayonier site consists of three environmental agencies and three Native American tribes. Last month the City of Port Angeles requested Governor Gregoire, who under CERCLA (the applicable federal pollution clean up legislation) has the authority to “designate State officials who may act on behalf of the public as trustees for natural resources under this chapter” 2, to be added as a Rayonier site NRDA Trustee. Local business organizations, like the Chamber of Commerce and the Port Angeles Business Association, wrote letters to the Governor supporting this application.

 

There are several things wrong with Ms. Lawson’s comments to the Peninsula Daily News. First, DoE is merely one of six members of the Trustee Council and does not have the statutory authority to determine who else is on the Council and who is not. That is the Governor’s job.

 

Second, it is the statement that the City should not be a trustee because “they don’t have any ownership of the land” that makes no sense rather than the City’s request. None of the existing six trustees have any ownership of the land. The only ones who own the land are Rayonier (which for obvious reasons is not a trustee) and the City, for the new sewer lines and stormwater overflow tank.

 

Third, the EPA’s own website, while pointing out that “the designated official [for a State] is normally the head of an agency responsible for environmental protection or fish and wildlife management”, also states that “the Governor can delegate responsibility to any entity” and that “states may designate more than one Trustee agency.”3

 

Finally, it is a blatant breach of etiquette for a subordinate employee of a State agency to communicate to the public that the City’s application to the Governor has been denied, prior to a formal response from the Governor’s office.

 

If it is true that the formal response to the City will come from the head of DoE rather than from the Governor, this shows a disturbing delegation by the Governor of decision making power to an agency that in 14 years has not been able to define the boundaries of the area to be cleaned up, nor set clean up standards, for a process that elsewhere has taken no more than three years, including the actual clean up. DoE has strayed far beyond its proper role and needs to be reined in and brought back on course to serve the citizens of the communities within which polluted sites lie.

 

1 http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007702260302

2 42 U.S.C. Section 9607 (f) (2) (B)

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/usc_sec_42_00009607----000-.html

3 http://www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/nrd/trustees.htm#SNRT