Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site
Site Background
Historical operations on this property resulted in the release of pollutants from wood product manufacturing and treatment activities, including the use of pentachlorophenol, incineration of salt-laden wood (and aerial deposition of resulting ash) and landfilling of used contaminated materials. These pollutants included metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) and dioxins/furans. Some of these contaminants have been found in soil surrounding the mill and in sediments and shellfish tissue in Port Gamble Bay. In addition to releasing toxic substances, wood waste has affected the marine sediments and benthic organisms. When wood waste breaks down, it releases sulfide and ammonia, which are harmful to bottom-dwelling animals. Wood waste can also smother aquatic habitat and animals such as clams.
Cleanup work in Port Gamble Bay was completed in 2017. Ecology and the Potentially Liable Parties, Pope Resources and OPG Properties, LLC, are now focused on cleanup at the uplands Mill Site.
Site Status
Cleanup planning (2020)
In early 2020, we invited comments on several cleanup planning documents for the final phases of cleanup at the Port Gamble site.
Those documents included a cleanup action plan, a supplement to the remedial investigation and feasibility study - this describes earlier cleanup actions, and presents an evaluation of final cleanup alternatives, a consent decree that legally binds the potentially liable parties to the work described in the cleanup action plan, and a State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) checklist and determination.
Interested in more information?
You can find these documents by reviewing the list below, you can read a fact sheet that summarizes the public comment period, watch a video of the online open house, and you can read Ecology's responses to the comments we received in our responsiveness summary.
Uplands investigation (2017)
In October 2017, Ecology entered into an formal legal agreement called an
Agreed Order with the Potentially Liable Parties (PLPs), Pope Resources and OPG Properties LLC. This requires them to conduct environmental cleanup at the uplands portion of the site. As part of the agreed order, Pope Resources and OPG Properties LLC agreed to conduct a Supplemental Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study, and draft a Cleanup
Action Plan for the site.
Cleanup of the in-water portion of the site (2015-2017)
The in-water portion of Port Gamble Bay and Mill site cleanup is complete as of January 2017.
Cleanup highlights include:
- Over 8,500 mostly creosote-treated pilings removed
- Wood waste and contaminated sediment removed: over 110,000 cubic yards
- Overwater and derelict structures removed: over 55,000 square feet, or about one acre
- Clean capping and habitat materials placed: over 200,000 tons
- Clean sand placed to accelerate natural recovery: over 113,000 cubic yards
- Length of shoreline improved along mill site: over 3,400 feet
Total area cleaned up: over 106 acres
Many efforts to improve marine and shoreline habitat and restore native species such as oysters are complete.
Previous cleanup of the Bay (2003-2014)
There have been a few previous cleanup actions to address contamination in the bay. Between 2002 and 2005, 26,310 tons of contaminated soil were excavated from upland areas of the site. In the nearshore area adjacent to the sawmill, 31,000 cubic yards of wood debris were dredged in 2003 and 2007. The southern portion of the upland fill area is subject to ongoing monitoring to confirm trends of decreasing arsenic (below required minimum standards) in groundwater.
A partial Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study was initiated in 2008 and finalized in 2012. There were originally separate RI/FS reports for the in-water areas adjacent to the former sawmill and for the remainder of the bay. This included an area along the southwest shore that the Department of Natural Resources had previously leased to Pope and Talbot for rafting and storing logs. The partial RI/FS only deals with part of the overall Port Gamble Bay and Mill site.
The partial Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study led to the development in 2013 of Ecology’s Cleanup Action Plan. It is included as Appendix A in the Consent Decree, which Ecology and the PLPs entered into in December 2013. The Cleanup Action Plan focused on the in-water portion of the Site and identified cleanup actions for five locations designated as Sediment Management Areas. Cleanup in these areas focused on:
- Eliminating threats to human health from exposure to cPAHs, dioxins/furans, petroleum hydrocarbons and cadmium.
- Eliminating threats to the environment from wood waste toxicity.
- Completing as much environmental cleanup as possible while minimizing impacts of the cleanup.
Documents 166
Legal 6
Document Title | Document Date | Document Type |
Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site Upland Consent Decree | 1/14/2020 | Consent Decree |
Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site Upland Agreed Order February 2018 | 2/5/2018 | Agreed Order |
Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site Draft Upland Agreed Order October 2017 | 10/17/2017 | Agreed Order |
Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site Final Consent Decree December 2013 | 12/20/2013 | Consent Decree |
Pope and Talbot Inc Sawmill AO for RI/FS | 10/1/2007 | Agreed Order |
Pope and Talbot Inc Sawmill AO Remedial Action | 9/1/2005 | Agreed Order |
Map 4
Document Title | Document Date | Document Type |
Location of additional hardscape areas in sediment stockpile footpring. | 10/2/2017 | Map |
Detail of SMA-1 cap repair at jetty | 1/11/2017 | Map |
Port Gamble Bay Restoration and Preservation Projects Western Shoreline Block March 2014 | 3/24/2014 | Map |
Port Gamble Bay Preservation and Restoration Provisio Funds Map October 2013 | 10/31/2013 | Map |
Public Information 23
State Environmental Policy Act 6
Document Title | Document Date | Document Type |
Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site Determination of Non-Significance Letter | 4/21/2020 | SEPA Documents |
Port Gamble Bay and Mill Site SEPA Checklist | 4/21/2020 | SEPA Documents |
Port Gamble Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance October 2013 | 10/9/2013 | SEPA Documents |
Port Gamble Bay SEPA Checklist October 2013 | 10/9/2013 | SEPA Documents |
Port Gamble Bay SEPA Determination of Non-Significance December 2006 | 12/6/2006 | SEPA Documents |
Port Gamble Bay SEPA Checklist July 2006 | 7/20/2006 | SEPA Documents |
Technical Reports 126
Voluntary Cleanup Program 1
Document Title | Document Date | Document Type |
Port Gamble Log Storage Lease Area NW1088 NFA Letter | 6/21/2003 | VCP Opinion on Site Cleanup – NFA |
Places to see print documents
-
Headquarters300 Desmond Dr SELacey, 98503Please schedule an appointment to view print documents at this location.
-
Poulsbo Library700 NE Lincoln StreetPoulsbo, 98370This location may only have print documents available during open comment periods.
-
Little Boston Library31980 Little Boston Road NEKingston, 98346This location may only have print documents available during open comment periods.
Contaminants 11
Contaminant Type | Soil |
Groundwater |
Surface Water |
Air |
Sediment |
Bedrock |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other Contaminant - Base/Neutral/Acid Organics | S | |||||
Halogenated Organics - Halogenated Organics | C | S | S | S | C | |
Metals - Metals Priority Pollutants | C | C | S | S | C | |
Metals - Metals - Other | S | S | C | |||
Halogenated Organics - Polychlorinated biPhenyls (PCB) | C | S | S | |||
Non-Halogenated Organics - Petroleum Products-Unspecified | C | C | S | |||
Non-Halogenated Organics - Phenolic Compounds | C | |||||
Non-Halogenated Organics - Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons | C | S | S | S | C | |
Metals - Arsenic | C | C | ||||
Other Contaminant - Bioassay Benthic Failures | C | |||||
Other Contaminant - Other Deleterious Substances | C | C |
- S
- Suspected
- C
- Confirmed Above Cleanup Levels
- B
- Below Cleanup Levels
- RA
- Remediated-Above
- RB
- Remediated-Below
- R
- Remediated