PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Ecology is preparing to change the rules for dioxin cleanup levels after settling a lawsuit filed by Rayonier Inc. in November.
The new rules probably will be applied to the cleanup of the former Rayonier mill site on the city’s waterfront.
But the state official overseeing the project doesn’t think it should cause further delays.
The Rayonier pulp mill closed March 1, 1997. Cleanup is still in planning, with nothing having been done as yet.
The mill has been dismantled but the site still has low levels of dioxins, PCBs and other toxins generated over 68 years as a mill that transformed wood to pulp.
The 75-acre property is in the fifth year of a state toxic-waste cleanup planning project supervised by Ecology, Rayonier and the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
