The three-member Port of Port Angeles Commission voted
unanimously on June 10 to use $26,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging the port
violated a state stormwater permit issued under the federal Clean Water Act.
The settlement amount consists of $16,500 to cover the legal
fees of the lawsuit’s plaintiff, environmental group Waste Action Project, plus
$10,000 that will be paid to the Feiro Marine Life Center to help restore
Peabody Creek.
King County-based Waste Action Project filed suit in US
District Court in September 2013, alleging violations of the Clean Water Act
relating to stormwater discharges from the port’s boatyard. The group had
claimed that when it rained, the port was exceeding benchmark zinc and copper
levels in stormwater that the port discharges into the Boat Haven marina inside
Port Angeles Harbor.
The group’s lawsuit quoted discharge monitoring reports that
the port files with the state Department of Ecology in stating that the
seasonal average for copper concentration from 2011-12 was eight times the
allowable average of 50 micrograms per liter and that the seasonal average for
zinc concentration over the same timeframe was 267.5 micrograms per liter,
three times the allowable seasonal average of 85 micrograms per liter.
Under the terms of the settlement, the port
admits no wrongdoing, agrees to comply with the terms of its national pollutant
discharge permit going forward and is also required to implement a new
discharge system wherein stormwater will circulate through plants and soil in a
rain garden, rather than flow into marina waters.
