PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Ecology has rejected the city’s request to be represented on a committee that is assessing natural resource damages inflicted on property occupied for seven decades by the Rayonier pulp mill before it closed.

The participation of Port Angeles city officials on the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee Council “doesn’t make sense,” Rebecca Lawson, Ecology’s southwest region manager for toxics cleanup, said Monday.

“It’s not appropriate for the city to be a trustee,” she said.

“They don’t have any ownership of the land. They don’t have a stewardship.

“I understand their interest is in economic development and reuse of the property, but that is not part of this NERDA Trustee Council process.”

Lawson said agency officials are signing off on a letter from Ecology Director Ted Sturdivant that will be sent to the city informing the council of the agency’s decision.

Trustee role important

“Having an interest in economic redevelopment isn’t a match for being a trustee,” she said.

The Port Angeles City Council voted 6-1 on Nov. 1 to ask Gov. Chris Gregoire to name the city to the trustee group, which includes Ecology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Council Member Brad Collins said when told of Ecology’s decision.

He added that the city does have ownership of the land underneath a giant storage tank on the property.

“We’ve been engaged in this process for over a dozen years now, and we’d like to help move things along,” he said.

The Port Angeles Business Association weighed in on the city’s side just this month in a Dec. 6 letter from organization President Kaj Ahlburg to Gregoire asking her to name a city representative to the Trustee Council.

“Promptly returning this site to productive use, generating jobs and tax revenue is of paramount importance for the citizens and business community of Port Angeles,” Ahlburg said.

City’s interest significant

“The interests of the city and its citizens in the future of the Rayonier property is at least as strong and immediate” as those of other Trustee Council members, Ahlburg said.

The Trustee Council, which still has some vacancies on it, has met three times in meetings that are not open to the public, Lawson said.

Members must sign confidentiality agreements that prevent them from discussing the proceedings.

The committee meets again in January.

Damage, restorationM

After assessing damage to the 75-acre site two miles east of downtown Port Angeles, the Trustee Council will look at potential restoration projects to compensate for those damages.

“Ecology’s goal is to have a restoration plan developed to be integrated with cleanup in maybe by December 2015,” Lawson said.

“These processes have been known to take years. We are hoping obviously that it doesn’t take nearly that long.”

The City Council and other residents will be able to review proposed restoration plan once it is written, Lawson said.

“There will be some opportunity for the city to weigh in and express their concerns,” she added.

The Trustee Council will determine Rayonier’s liability for the loss of natural resources, including fish and other marine species.

The city is concerned that Rayonier will restore the site to its natural state rather than allow it to be redeveloped to resolve the company’s liability for natural resource damages.

The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe also supports nondevelopment.

Rayonier could do additional habitat restoration beyond that work which the company is liable for, which it can sell as “credits” to other companies facing natural-resource-loss claims.

Rayonier shut down the mill in 1997 after operating it for 67 years, putting 365 people out of work.

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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.