Harbor officials say progress being made on attracting businesses to site
6/30/14
The hazardous liquors stored at the Samoa pulp mill that initiated an emergency cleanup response by the federal government last year will remain on-site a few months longer than originally planned due to shipping delays, but harbor officials say progress is still moving forward on other fronts.
The multi-agency Samoa pulp mill cleanup that began on March 28 is in the process of transferring the nearly 3 million gallons of caustic liquors — chemical liquids used to break down wood chips into pulp material for paper products — acids and toxic sludge from the site to a pulp mill nearly 460 miles away in Longview, Wash., where the liquors will be reused. The Environmental Protection Agency decided to ship the hazardous waste using chemical trucks, with an estimated 800 truck loads needed to rid the Samoa mill of the liquors.
EPA federal on-scene coordinator Steve Calanog said they were hoping to have all of the liquors shipped out by the end of June, but an unforeseen delay in Washington altered the schedule.
"The receiving pulp mill had shut down for three weeks for maintenance and they had to suspend our shipments," Calanog said. "We will still be shipping liquors for a couple more months. Probably into September."
Resuming regular shipments on June 23, Calanog also attributed the delay to a slower shipping rate than the envisioned 15 trucks per day.
"We had initially planned on being able to send more trucks at a time," Calanog said. "For scheduling and safety reasons — and making sure the trucks get up and over the mountains before it gets dark — we've slowed the pace of the trucks down so we could be safe. We've been averaging about 8 to 10 trucks per day."
Calanog said they have extracted over 1.5 million gallons as of June 24.
Safety has been a priority for the cleanup officials since the condition of the 72-acre pulp mill site — owned by the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District since August — was brought to the EPA's attention last August by the Wiyot Tribe. When EPA officials arrived to inspect the site in September, they initiated an emergency response after finding the containers and tanks holding the liquors were corroding and at the brink of overflowing into nearby Humboldt Bay.
One of the many previous owners of the pulp mill — Evergreen Pulp Inc. — has been deemed responsible for leaving the site in its decrepit condition, but the agency has yet to be able to file a lawsuit against the company to acquire funds for the cleanup.
"I have colleagues who are doing the investigation," Calanog "I know they are continuing to interview people and pull records. We are continuing to look for folks from Evergreen, and talking with key people that were operators."
While scrap materials from the mill are expected to pull in some revenue, a large portion of the cost may fall on the lap of the local harbor district. District Chief Executive Office Jack Crider said the EPA has approved over $3 million in costs so far, and is seeking an additional $4 million. Crider said the harbor commission and the EPA are currently working on a settlement agreement that will lay out how the district will pay back the transportation and cleanup costs.
"They started with a standard recovery agreement, and we said there are certain parts that we want to agree to and wanted more specifics on," Crider said.
Harbor Commissioner Richard Marks said the settlement is a continuance of past discussions with the EPA on the issue, but "now with lawyers involved."
"Basically, what we had was a gentleman's agreement that is now turning into a legal agreement," Marks said, further clarifying that no lawsuits have been filed by either party.
EPA Assistant Public Affairs Director Bill Keener said these types of administrative agreements are typical to ensure that the agency is reimbursed in some way.
"It's just a normal procedure to have the time frame and amounts in an agreement," Keener said. "When it gets finalized, it will be made available to the public."
With the district being unable to immediately front the transportation costs, the harbor commission voted to sign an agreement with Coast Seafoods Inc. for a $1.25 million limited obligation note in April. The resolution states that the company willingly volunteered to help as it is "engaged in oyster production in Humboldt Bay and has an interest in insuring the water quality of Humboldt Bay."
Should the harbor district fail to pay back the loan in a timely manner, Crider said revenues from the company's nearly 300-acre tidelands lease with the district will be used to repay it. The district also agreed to extend the company's tidelands lease by 40 years, starting in September 2015, which will remain in effect until the loan is repaid in full, according to a May 27 addendum. Once repaid, the lease will convert into a five-year lease with the option to renew it another five years.
"There are two more years on their current lease, and we anticipate that the loan will be repaid by then," Crider said. "It was a worse case scenario option. If we can't repay them, then it would come out of the lease payments."
Commissioner Greg Dale, the southwest operations manager for Coast Seafoods, was absent from the April meeting when the resolution was approved.
The harbor district's efforts to convert the pulp mill's abandoned machine shops and warehouses into a functioning area for business have been going "quite well," Crider said.
Taylor Shellfish is already leasing part of the property and Coast Seafoods is looking to expand into the area as well.
"We have got a variety of different people interested, and are encouraging more," Crider said.
Crider said a pellet manufacturing company has also entered a bid to build a factory on part of the property.
Marks said the commission is looking at acquiring more property from Freshwater Tissue Co., which still owns portions of the mill site.
"We still have a lot of people inquiring about projects that are interested in leasing there, but right now we're juggling a lot of balls in the air," he said. "We have a piece of property that first needs to be cleaned."
As to that subject, Calanog said it will be "slow and steady work."
"We always like to think we can move heaven and earth," Calanog said. "It was anticipated that we would be, perhaps, slower in our pace. And that's fine with me, as long as we're doing it safely."
