Weyerhaeuser Mill A

A Puget Sound Initiative site - Reaching the goal of a healthy, sustainable Puget Sound.

From the 1890s to the early 1980s, the Weyerhaeuser Mill A site was used primarily for sawmill and pulp mill operations. The site is located at 3500 Terminal Avenue at the Port of Everett’s South Terminal.  

A range of historical industrial activities were performed including pulp manufacturing, saw milling, ship building, shingle milling and log handling. While operating as a sulfite pulp mill, the facility produced approximately 300 tons of pulp per day. Some of the waste materials from this production contributed to the contamination of the site. All pulping operations at the site ceased in 1980. The Port of Everett (the Port) purchased the property in 1983 and currently uses the site for break bulk and container cargo handling. Samples collected from adjacent marine sediments were found to contain a large volume of wood waste as well as contaminants including metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), phenols and dioxins/furans. Upland contaminants include metals, PAHs, petroleum and several semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs).

The Site is in the early stages of the cleanup process:

• January-March 2010: The Port conducts the initial phase of an Independent Upland Source and Groundwater Investigation.
• August 2012: Ecology enters into an Agreed Order (AO) with the Potentially Liable Persons (PLPs) – the Port, Weyerhaeuser Company (Weyerhaeuser) and Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
• March 2016: A draft AO for an Interim Action (IA) and draft Public Participation Plan are released for public review and comment. The PLPs to this AO are the Port and Weyerhaeuser.
• August 2016: An interim cleanup action in a portion of the in-water area began to remove contaminated sediment and wood debris to increase navigational access to the terminal.

Additional information on the work accomplished to-date is provided below.
 
Independent Upland Source and Groundwater Investigation (January 2010)

In January 2010, the Port of Everett conducted the initial phase of an Independent Upland Source and Groundwater Investigation to evaluate potential contamination at the site that may have resulted from historical uses of the property. This independent investigation was conducted in coordination with Ecology who provided technical assistance in the form of review and comment on the Site investigation work plan. A report documenting the results of the upland investigation was provided to Ecology in March 2010.

Agreed Order (August 2012)

This first agreed order for the site is a legal document between Ecology and the PLPs – the Port, Weyerhaeuser and DNR. The 2012 agreed order outlines the agreement to provide remedial action at the Site where there has been a release or threatened release of hazardous substances. Notice of this agreed order was provided in June 2012. 

The 2012 agreed order describes the studies that the PLPs agree to perform on the site and covers the following studies and documents:

• Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) – Explains the work needed to identify and analyze contamination at the site.
• Draft Cleanup Action Plan – Uses the RI/FS to identify a preferred cleanup action and a schedule to remove and treat the contamination at the site.

Draft Agreed Order for an Interim Action (March 2016)

The second Agreed Order for the site is a legal document between Ecology, the Port and Weyerhaeuser. This Agreed Order is for a proposed interim cleanup action in the in-water area (off-shore of Pacific Terminal). An Interim Action is a remedial action required to partially address cleanup of the site. Action will take place during the 2016/2017 in-water work window as allowed by the Army Corps of Engineers permit for the project.

The Interim Action will remove contaminated sediment and wood debris identified at the site and increase navigational access to Pacific Terminal. This work includes dredging, transport and disposal of contaminated sediment and wood debris to an approved landfill facility. Dredged material suitable for open water disposal will be placed on a disposal barge and transported to the open water disposal site. The action also includes installing armor and habitat mix (rounded sand and gravel materials) along areas where a temporary side slope remains. Further details regarding the technical elements of the Interim Action can be found in Exhibit B (Interim Action Work Plan) of the Agreed Order. An Interim Action report, documenting the cleanup actions taken, will be written following the action and evaluated as a part of the final cleanup action for the site as identified in the 2012 Agreed Order.