Western Port Angeles Harbor Sediment Cleanup
Client: Western Port Angeles Harbor Group
Overview of Floyd|Snider Contributions
Project Summary
Port Angeles Harbor is a large natural harbor located on the northern coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in Port Angeles, Washington.
Port Angeles Harbor is a large natural harbor located on the northern coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in Port Angeles, Washington. Over the past 130 years, operations within or adjacent to the Harbor resulting in sediment contamination included sawmills, plywood manufacturing, pulp and paper production, other wood processing-related operations, commercial fishing and fish packing, bulk fuel facilities, boat building, marinas, and marine shipping and transport. The Harbor has been identified as a priority sediment cleanup and restoration project by Ecology as part of the Puget Sound Initiative. The five-party PLP group (the Western Port Angeles Harbor Group [WPAH Group]) and Ecology entered into an Agreed Order to conduct an RI/FS in 2013. Members of the WPAH Group include Port of Port Angeles, Georgia-Pacific LLC, Nippon Paper Industries USA Co., Ltd., City of Port Angeles, and Merrill & Ring. The public review draft RI/FS was submitted to Ecology in September 2019 and the public comment period ended in March 2020. The final RI/FS was approved in November 2020.
Our Approach
Floyd|Snider is the lead common consultant and project coordinator for the WPAH Group and has worked collaboratively with Ecology and stakeholders to develop technical approaches for the project and the RI/FS over a period of several years.
Project Milestones:
2020. Public review draft RI/FS out for public comment
2020. Final RI/FS approved by Ecology
Floyd|Snider is the lead common consultant and project coordinator for the WPAH Group and has worked collaboratively with Ecology and stakeholders to develop technical approaches for the project and the RI/FS over a period of several years. Floyd|Snider led development and implementation of an RI Work Plan, data interpretation and analyses, negotiation of remedial alternatives, and preparation of the public review draft RI/FS. The RI/FS was prepared in accordance with the revised SMS and includes the implementation of regional background sediment targets as determined by Ecology for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins/furans, and mercury measured using surface-weighted average concentrations. Based on detailed RI/FS evaluations and public and stakeholder reviews, the cleanup remedy uses permanent solutions to the maximum extent practicable, while also achieving cleanup standards within a reasonable time frame, and includes 1,130 acres of monitored natural recovery (MNR) and enhanced monitored natural recovery (EMNR), 43 acres of engineered capping, and 1 acre of removal. Sediment cleanup levels are targeted to be achieved throughout the Harbor 10 years after 6 seasons of EMNR and cap construction.
Project Milestones:
2020. Public review draft RI/FS out for public comment
2020. Final RI/FS approved by Ecology