"JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH & ECOLOGY WERE IN AGREEMENT THAT A LIMITED PURPOSE LANDFILL CLASSIFICATION WOULD BE THE MOST APPROPRIATE ONE FOR THIS LANDFILL . . ." - July 19, 2012 letter composed by Dr. Locke to Eveleen Muehlethaler, Vice-President Environmental Affairs, Port Townsend Paper Corporation

Why is Port Townsend Paper Corporation Fighting The Public on a Limited Purpose Landfill Permit for the Mill's Industrial Ash Landfill?

The Port Townsend Paper Corporation's industrial landfill is wrongly permitted as an "Inert" landfill. The mill is alone among all other paper mills in Washington in having an ash landfill permitted as "Inert". Every other industrial ash landfill is permitted as "Limited" Purpose.

An inert permit is for waste that is non-reactive, like gravel. If you put it in your mouth, it wouldn’t hurt you. Instead, the mill’s ash, as alkaline as 12.3 pH, is 10 times more caustic than ammonia. DOE points out that risks to human health and environmental groundwater contamination are in clear violation of the inert criteria law.

A Limited Purpose Landfill (LPL) permit requires groundwater monitoring and assurance of funds to close the landfill in the future. These requirements are necessary to detect problems of contamination at an early stage, and to have the user of a landfill pay for closure instead of a costly cleanup at taxpayer expense.