Grays Harbor Paper LP

Industrial practices and historical land use by the mill owners and operators has resulted in soil and groundwater contamination at the site.

Historical independent investigations conducted by previous site owners and operators have detected the following contaminants in soil or groundwater at the site.
-Total petroleum hydrocarbons from diesel, gasoline, and oil
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- Polychlorinated biphenyls
- Metals including lead, chromium, and mercury
- Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene
- Volatile organic compounds

At certain concentrations, the pollutants listed above can pose a threat to human health and the environment. The draft cleanup Agreed Order begins the cleanup process under the Model Toxics Control Act, Washington state’s cleanup law.

The site is located in Grays Harbor County adjacent to the mouth of the Hoquiam River.
Zoning for the site is currently designated as industrial. Areas directly north of the site are zoned as commercial and high-density residential. Rennie Island zoning designates it as a natural resource.

The site includes:
• The former dissolving sulfite pulp mill area that produced pulp from the 1920s to 1992. The sulfite process pulps wood chips using chemical solutions of sulfite and bisulfite.
Demolition of the pulp mill’s aboveground structures was completed in 1992.

 • The paper mill area that produced paper using pulp from the on-site pulp mill (while it was in operation) and/or purchased recycled pulp from the 1920s to 2013. Demolition of
the paper mill’s aboveground structures was completed in 2016. While the site historically purchased bleached recycled pulp, there was no on-site bleaching at the site.

 • The wastewater treatment plant area, where the facility treated wastewater treatment plant effluent on-site, and basins adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant where liquids
from pulping processes were stored.

 • Sediments contiguous with the upland portions of the site that may have become contaminated due to industrial practices or the discharge of treated wastewater. 

 • Rennie Island, where the pulp mill occasionally stored spent pulping chemicals in an unlined lagoon during upset conditions.

At this point of the cleanup process, Ecology is providing a draft cleanup Agreed Order for public review and comment. The Agreed Order will start a process of investigating the contamination at the site and creating plans to clean up the contamination. For more information on the Cleanup Process see Ecology’s Cleanup Process Infographic.