Comment until June 26 on the Shelton Harbor sediment cleanup

Public meeting set for June 1

The public is invited to comment on the new agreed order and public participation plan for the Shelton Harbor/Oakland Bay cleanup in Mason County. The Bay and Harbor are contaminated from decades of industrial use. Chemicals, wood waste, and waste water from timber and wood product manufacturing industries were all discharged into Oakland Bay, one of the most productive shellfish growing areas in the country.

Shelton Harbor 2007

The public comment period is open from May 25 through June 26. All comments and our responses will be included in the site’s formal record.

Submit comments and any questions to Joyce Mercuri by email or mail them to Ecology’ Southwest Regional Office at PO Box 47775, Olympia, WA 98504-7775.

June 1 public meeting

The public is also invited to attend an open house and information session about the new agreement between the Department of Ecology and Simpson Timber Company to begin the cleanup process in Shelton Harbor.

The open house is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 1, at the Mason PUD 3 Building, 2621 E. Johns Prairie Rd. The information session will begin at 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A. Ecology staff will be available for one-on-one discussions before and after the meeting

In addition to information about cleanup in Shelton Harbor, the presentation will include a brief description of the planned harbor habitat restoration from a representative of the Squaxin Island Tribe. Visit SheltonHarbor.org for more information about the restoration.

We will respond to each written comment we receive during the meeting and throughout the comment period.

What: Public Meeting – Shelton Harbor Cleanup
When: Thursday, June 1
Time: Open House 6:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
                Presentation begins at 7 p.m., with a Q & A session following
Where: Mason PUD 3 Building: 2621 E Johns Prairie Road

Improving the health of Shelton Harbor

Shelton Harbor cleanup area

Previous research in Oakland Bay showed that contamination in the bay is most concentrated in Shelton Harbor. We defined the Shelton Harbor Cleanup Unit [BC(2]to address that contamination.

The new legal agreement with the Simpson Timber Company, called an agreed order, requires Simpson to:

• Describe the types and extent of contamination in Shelton Harbor through a remedial investigation.
• Develop and carry out a partial cleanup plan called an interim action.
• Evaluate cleanup options through a feasibility study.
• Choose cleanup methods through a draft cleanup plan.

Through this cleanup work we have an opportunity to contribute to the success of a habitat restoration project in Shelton Harbor. We plan to dovetail the first stages of cleanup work with restoration. This will help make both projects more efficient and ensure that the restoration project is built on a foundation that meets state cleanup standards.

Questions? 

Review documents and learn more about the project on our Shelton Harbor Sediments Cleanup webpage. If you’d like to receive email updates, send a request to the Public Involvement Coordinator.

By Dave Bennett, Southwest Region communications