PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Harbor-Works Development Authority released today a partial draft of the due diligence study of the Rayonier Inc. site that includes environmental data and comments on possible types of development.
The draft of the study being completed by BergerABAM of Seattle lacks a risk assessment, cultural resources assessment, summary, conclusion and recommendations.
It provides many tables of environmental data on both upland and marine areas of the site at the end of Ennis Street, which has pockets of contamination by dioxin, PCBs, arsenic and other toxins created during the 68 years that a Rayonier of pulp mill operated before it was closed in 1997.
But the study says that the extent of contamination of both the upland areas and the marine areas of the 75-acre site cannot be determined until specific site cleanup levels have been established.
The site has been a state Department of Ecology cleanup project, with Rayonier and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe as partners, since 2000.
The study says: “In recognition of the due diligence scope limitations of this work, the uncertainty in using data from draft RI [remedial investigation] processes that have not yet been approved by Ecology, the existence of data gaps that have been identified by Ecology, and a lack of final upland and marine cleanup levels for the site, the preliminary evaluation of remedial measures is not as detailed or comprehensive as a fully compliant MTCA FS [Model Toxic Control Act feasibility study].”
The city of Port Angeles created Harbor-Works in May 2008 to assist in the environmental cleanup and direct the redevelopment of the Rayonier property.
In the market conditions section of the study, analysts said that the “best prospects for attracting jobs-producing uses to this site lie with the marine trades industry.”
However, the study also says that while overall demand for marine-related land has been low in the region, the supply has been relatively high.
“It is difficult to assess the economic value of the pier,” the study added.
Portions of the Rayonier site could be reserved for industrial development not marine-related, the study said, pointing to other possible uses such as an educational or research institution, a small waterfront restaurant or a limited service hotel.
The report said that:
■ The executive summary and conclusions and recommendations will not be completed until the study process is complete, most likely in April.
■ The cultural resource assessment will be released after some information about archeological sites are removed.
■ The risk assessment is under way and not complete.
The released sections of the report can be found at the Harbor-Works Web site at www.paharborworks.org.
