A federal government report on the contaminants in the air around the Port Townsend paper mill was issued June 24, showing that such contaminants were present in the air in high enough concentrations to cause adverse respiratory effects.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry conducted an exposure investigation in the fall of 2018 to measure people’s exposure to contaminants in the outdoor air near the Port Townsend Paper Corporation.

The 84-page report was published June 24 of this year, and presented to the public at the Pope Marine building by ATSDR on July 10.

Presenters acknowledged the gap of time from study to publication, noting staffing issues that included agency staff being reassigned during COVID.

The agency collected air samples for 10 weeks from a total of eight fixed sampling sites, including six residential areas, one public school and one business, all within three miles of the paper mill.

Presenters said they had alerted mill officials of the study, and requested access to the property, which was declined.

The mill was sold in 2022 as part of a larger acquisition to Atlas Holdings, a private equity firm.

The ATSDR report was initially prompted by a request from the Washington Department of Health, over complaints about stench coming from the mill.

The agency also reviewed thousands of odor complaints that were made to both the Washington Department of Ecology and the Port Townsend Paper Corporation, from 2016 through 2021.

The report stated that, while exposure to the concentrations of the individual sulfur contaminants that were present “is not likely to cause adverse effects,” exposure to the mixture of contaminants that were present “may cause occasional acute respiratory effects.”

The exposure investigation concluded that breathing sulfur compounds that were in the air near the paper mill “can potentially cause adverse acute respiratory effects.”

It also concluded that breathing hydrogen sulfide near the paper mill “is not expected to harm people’s health,” even though hydrogen sulfide in outdoor air can cause environmental odors.

The report also noted that sulfur compounds are associated with the environmental odors described in the complaints from community members, and of the sulfur compounds measured, several were recorded at levels that can indeed cause offensive odors.

Moreover, of the sulfur compounds measured, “all but methyl mercaptan and dimethyl sulfide exceeded acute health-based” sulfur levels, according to the report.

The report further determined that, when one sulfur compound was found to be high in concentration, the others were likely to be high as well, which matters because, when higher concentrations of each of those contaminants occur at the same time, the report noted “there is an increased potential for adverse health effects.”

The report continued, “together they can contribute to acute respiratory symptoms and odor-related health effects.”

The exposure investigation also concluded higher concentrations of some contaminants were present, and more reports of odors occurred, when the paper mill was in operation, compared to when it was shut down.

According to the report, more odor complaints were made during the time immediately before the shutdown, and after the facility restarted, compared to during the shutdown.

In the midst of these determinations, the exposure investigation reached some positive conclusions about the paper mill as well, starting with its conclusion that sulfur dioxide concentrations near the paper mill rarely reached levels that can cause acute respiratory effects, especially since chronic exposure to sulfur dioxide “is not expected to harm people’s health.”

Also not expected to harm people’s health, according to the report, is breathing either aldehydes or particulate matter near the paper mill, “although on some days there is a potential for respiratory symptoms in unusually sensitive individuals with advanced heart or lung disease.”