Site Cleanup

Site Cleanup Activities

The Port Angeles Rayonier Mill cleanup is a large and complex process.  Rayonier and Ecology have agreed to move forward with cleanup of the Study Area  —  a portion of the site that includes the former mill property and nearby marine areas.  Cleaning up the Study Area may help return the property to productive use.  However, Rayonier is still liable for investigating and cleaning up the entire site, which includes all areas contaminated by former mill operations.

• Track cleanup progress in the Study Area.
• Most recent documents: August 2010 Work Plan for Upland Data Collection

Study Area Cleanup

In 2010, Rayonier and Ecology signed a legal agreement--called an Agreed Order--for cleanup of the Study Area.  The cleanup is called an Interim Action because it only addresses part of the overall site, which has not yet been defined.  The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, which has a formal role in the cleanup, concurred with the agreement.  The Agreed Order went out for public comment in February of 2010 and all documents are available on the public comment period webpage.

Past Cleanup Work

Past work included a marine (water and sediments) investigation and an uplands (soil and groundwater) investigation.  There have also been several interim actions (partial cleanups).  Rayonier and Ecology are using information from the past work to help plan for future cleanup.  Read more about:

• The marine investigation
• The uplands investigation
• Interim actions

The Cleanup Process

Ecology uses strict cleanup guidelines from the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) to clean up polluted sites.  MTCA provides a standard cleanup process (see below) and opportunities for public involvement .



More information about the cleanup process can be found here.