Dr. Peter deFur, of Environmental Stewardship Concepts LLC, will tie together and update the public on the Rayonier and the Port Angeles Harbor cleanup efforts at a forum on Tuesday, 28 May at 7 PM in the Port Angeles Landing Mall 2nd floor meeting room. The Landing Mall is on the east side of the Pt Angeles-Victoria B.C. ferry dock.
The Department of Ecology’s Toxics Cleanup Program is working to investigate and clean up contamination around Port Angeles from Harbor sources of pollution. Cleanup sites and investigations include the Rayonier Mill, the Harbor Sediments Investigation, the Rayonier Mill Off-Property Soil Dioxin Study, (dioxins in Port Angeles area soils), the North Olympic Peninsula Regional Background study, Western Port Angeles Harbor (Nippon and areas of Ediz Hook), KPly, and the Marine Trades Area (central portion of the Harbor). Dr. deFur will present a summary of the status of these efforts and provide comments on the various reports and activities.
Dr. deFur is Technical Advisor for the Olympic Environmental Council Coalition for technical document reviews and public outreach and education.
Rayonier Mill: The Rayonier Mill was closed and demolished in 1997. At present, the Department of Ecology is reviewing Rayonier’s report about sediment contamination in the immediate area of the former mill site.
Sediments Investigation and the Western Harbor Site: Through the Puget Sound Initiative, the Department of Ecology did a large-scale sediment sampling study in Port Angeles Harbor. The study found the highest contamination in the western harbor and near the former Rayonier Mill in the eastern harbor. Ecology identified the Western Port Angeles Harbor cleanup site based on the Harbor investigation findings. The responsible parties plan to do sampling for the Western Harbor investigation this summer.
Regional Background: This spring and summer, Ecology will sample sediments in bays east of the Harbor in an effort to determine background sediment conditions for the North Olympic Peninsula region. The Department of Ecology previously conducted a similar sampling effort in the Port Gardner (Everett) region.
Dr. deFur also serves as Technical Advisor to the non-profit citizen based Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, in addition to several other major hazardous waste cleanup sites throughout the nation.
Dr. Peter deFur is Olympic Environmental Council’s Technical Advisor for the Port Angeles projects through a grant from the Washington Department of Ecology. Ecology reviewed this announcement for technical accuracy. Olympic Environmental Council positions are not those of Ecology’s.
For additional information, contact Darlene Schanfald, <darlenes@olympus.net>
Filed under: Olympic Peninsula, Port Angeles | Tagged: Olympic Peninsula, Port Angeles, Rayonier Cleanup |
