HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 06/23/1998 3747
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING
Port Angeles, Washington
June 23, 1998
CALL TO ORDER - Members of the City Council attended a forum which was sponsored by the Economic
SPECIAL MEETING: Response Task Force for the purpose of hearing a status report on the clean-up efforts at
the Rayonier Mill site. The forum, which commenced at 6:00 p.m., was held in the City
Council Chambers.
ROLL CALL: Members Present: Deputy Mayor Doyle, Councilmembers Campbell, Wiggins,
and Williams.
Members Absent: ~ ~~ ~
Staff Present: Interim Manager Pittis and T. Smith.
Rayonier Mill Clean-up Addressing an audience of approximately 30 people, Paul Peralwitz from Rayonier
provided a report on the status of the mill clean up to date.
100% of the wood structures have been removed; clean-up efforts are now down to metal
and concrete structures.
Most of the equipment has been removed, and asbestos abatement is at 80% removed.
This effort has involved mostly siding and roofing materials.
Removal of the lead in the digesters is at 60% and should be done by end of month.
Removal of the transformer oil by some of foundations is taking place.
Air monitoring is ongoing. Foster and Wheeler is the fn'm conducting the air monitoring
for Rayonier over the last 9 months. The finn has sampled 250 times for particulate, 93
times for dioxin and 46 times for lead. The highest sample for particulate is less than 1/3
of the action level required by EPA. Dioxin levels are 1,000 lower than the action level,
and no lead was found.
The clean-up plan for the finishing room was given to Ecology in March for review. This
work will involve the removal of petroleum contaminated soil. The plan will be updated
after Ecology comments are received, and it is hoped to begin work on the site in August
or September. Ecology representatives indicated that they have known about the petroleum
contaminated softs since 1990. This interim action plan is needed to deal with known areas
where a problem is identified. It involves removal of soils in the near term, as long as it
does not conflict with the long term clean-up of the site. The Public Participation Plan is
now being mailed to those on the mailing list to get public comments on the plan. Ecology
will be sending notifications to the ~ublic, advising them as to how they can participate.
The materials will consist of a fact sheet, public meeting dates, and where to fred the
proposal. Copies of the plan are available after the meeting.
An additional area of work is the hog fuel site, which has had an assessment conducted~
There is petroleum contaminated soils, but it is uncertain as to how much and what is
needed to clean it up.
-1-
3748
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
June 23, 1998
Rayonier Mill Clean-up Mr. Peralwitz indicated that they had a problem with the wastewater treatment plant system
(Cont'd) this month. There was a backflow in the outfall line, resulting in water on the ground. This
water was stormwater that is discharged through the outfall.
Rayonier is working with Foster and Wheeler to develop a full site environmental
assessment. A draft plan has been prepared and sent to Ecology. This plan is detail on
how an enviromnental assessment will be conducted on the site.
Rayonier wants the site to be cleaned up as soon as possible. Before Rayonier can sell the
site, the clean-up must be finished. Rayonier thinks that the chances are better than 50/50
that Ecology will be in charge of the site clean-up.
EPA representatives indicated that the site assessment report is due out in July, and that the
landfill report will be done in August. These reports will help in the characterization of the
site and landfill for scoring relative to whether or not EPA will list the site as a superfund
site.'
EPA has also provided information to homeowners about the sampling and tests taken on
private property adjacent to the mill. Rayonier mentioned that they have seen the data, and
. there does not appear to be any surprises or bad results. The County was also mailed a
copy of the results.
The public asked some questions about who Rayonier has hired to conduct a study of the
site for reuse? Rayonier stated that they hired R/chard Carruthers and Associates. They
will look at every possible use of the site for the future. It was stated that the Economic
Task Force will work with Rayonier to assist in the reuse evaluation of the site.
A questions was also asked about the survey taken and when the results would be released
to the public. The results will be given to the media this coming week.
A question was asked as to how soon the land will be available for reuse. Rayonier
indicated that there was more grading needed; the environmental assessment will take a
year or so if no significant problems arise, and the physical clean-up would take about 6
months. If EPA did the work, the estimate would be 6 to 8 years, per a GAO report.
A member of the public asked how many air monitors are around the site. Rayonier has
4 air monitors, and EPA has one.on the roof of the hospital. EPA indicated that their
approach is that if they find something, then they would add additional monitors and testing.
At this point that action is not warranted. Rayonier indicated that they increased the air
monitoring during the lead dismantling activities. They have found no lead in the air
monitoring tests. Some of the tests are conducted 5 days a week.
A member of the public expressed concern that the air monitoring should be continued,
even though no problems have been found, since we are now approaching the drier season.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:19 p.m.
Carol g. Hagar, Deputy
-2-