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Rayonier site cleanup still two years away (Port Angeles) -- A packed house of elected officials and businesspeople asked some pointed questions Tuesday of Bill Harris, the State Department of Ecology’s Rayonier Cleanup director. At the weekly meeting of the Port Angeles Business Association, the big question was: “When will the cleanup of the mill site begin.” Harris says it will be 2006 before that process may occur. He says right now all the parties are still waiting for a major environmental report to be finished. Harris says some of the delay has come with trying to coordinate all the players with an interest in the former mill site. Rayonier director of environmental affairs, Dana Doloff says he thinks the process could be moving faster but says he still thinks cleanup could happen within two years One question to be determined will be the amount of cleanup…if the property will be used for industrial or commercial use. Doloff says if they had a buyer, it would be easier to accelerate the cleanup. RELATED STORY: Port Angeles: Cleanup of ex-pulp mill site won't be finished
until late 2006, business association told 2004-07-14 by
JEFF CHEW PORT ANGELES -- The environmental cleanup of the property that once housed the Rayonier pulp mill will last at least 1½ more years, the Port Angeles Business Association was told Tuesday. Business association members have been pressing the state Department of Ecology to step up efforts to complete the Rayonier site cleanup so the property at the mouth of Ennis Creek can re-enter the area economy. William W. ``Bill'' Harris, environmental engineer with Ecology's Solid Waste and Financial Assistance Program, reluctantly told the audience at Tuesday's PABA meeting that the cleanup could take place by the end of 2006. ``It's hard to answer that question,'' Harris told about 50 attending the breakfast meeting at Joshua's Restaurant in Port Angeles. The meeting drew elected officials from state Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, to county, city and Port of Port Angeles leaders. Harris and Dana Dolloff, Rayonier environmental affairs director, said if the Rayonier property was brought up to industrial standards, only a surface cleanup would be required. If the site is brought up to ``unrestricted'' standards -- for residential or commercial land uses -- soils down to 10 feet deep would have to be excavated and removed. The site's ``remedial'' investigation covers both the marine and upland portions of the site. Harris said reports on those investigations should be completed within
the next six months, followed by a feasibility study and another public
comment period. RELATED STORY: Port Angeles: Property of former pulp mill might be another
Klallam archaeological site in the future by
JEFF CHEW AND PAUL GOTTLIEB PORT ANGELES -- The property of the former Rayonier pulp mill near the mouth of Ennis Creek could become site of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe's second archaeological survey for ancestral remains and artifacts. If and when that takes place is unknown, but it could uncover more of what has already been discovered 2.5 miles west -- at the state Department of Transportation's Hood Canal Bridge graving yard under construction at the western end of Port Angeles Harbor. ``I do not have a crystal ball to look and see what is the potential for the Rayonier mill site as far as what we might find,'' said Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances G. Charles. ``If we had a crystal to look at what we have there, we would all have a better understanding. . . . We will deal with that when the times comes.'' The Rayonier site is in the fourth year of a toxic waste cleanup supervised by the state Department of Ecology, Rayonier Inc. officials and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. That focus could shift once the cleanup is completed, once Klallam remains or artifacts are discovered, or before or after Rayonier sells the property. Bronze monument The Klallam village was designated as a state historic place in 1972, marked with a bronze plaque on the east bank of Ennis Creek in the heart of the 75-acre site of the mill, which was closed in 1997. The site fronting Port Angeles Harbor is bisected by Ennis Creek. It is at the north end of Ennis Street in eastern Port Angeles. The toxic waste assessment and cleanup under way has involved soil testing, studies and reports, some cleanup work and public comment periods. Charles compared the Rayonier mill site with that of the future graving yard, off Marine Drive just east of the Nippon Paper USA mill. The latter property once hosted a Klallam village named Tse-whit-zen, which carbon dating has indicated might have been populated as long as 1,700 years ago. ``They are pretty much comparable . . . because I know from the stories
told, and from what we're receiving from the Native community,'' Charles
said.
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