We are the Camas Earth Day Society July 2024
“My God, we should be able to create paper without destroying the world.” Denis Hayes, Camas Native/National Director Earth Day 1970, from Harvard Gazette, April 17, 2020
“It is impossible to exaggerate the importance to Camas of the remediation of the paper mill…As we have seen throughout industrial America, nothing is more lethal to a community than a toxic abandoned industrial facility right at its core.” May 2021 Denis Hayes letter to Washington Department of Ecology Director Laura Watson
The Society believes in action, recognizing the work of stakeholders such as the Yakama Nation .
Creating a new Outdoor Environmental Lab on vacant school property, the Society is already working hard with our schools for outdoor education and an Earth Day related curriculum. Thanks to a number of families and HP volunteers, the pollinator garden at the Camas Public Library to support the library’s wild bee hive is off to a great start. More to come this Fall. The Society was successful in getting the Departments of Ecology and Health to come to Camas and hear from the community.
“[T]he restoration of natural resources impacted by the past, current, and future releases of hazardous waste in order to make the public whole and further tribal Treaty rights.” September 2023 Statement by Yakama Nation relating to the cleanup of the Camas Mill
Where our Story Begins
Growing up in Camas, Washington, Denis Hayes spent much of his early childhood camping and developing a love and appreciation for the outdoors. Realizing that paper was made from logs, he wondered why the initiation of paper-making - the “moon-scaping” caused by the logging operations he would see when camping, all the way through the production of the paper with acrid smells spewing out of smokestacks was really worth the cost to our environment. This ability to see the necessity of industry in our economy juxtaposed with an under-valued environment was undeniably visionary. As one of Earth Day’s founders, Denis saw the need for mankind to co-exist with the only Earth we have. It is worth connecting the past history of paper making and the mill to our future here in Camas. It is an interesting story and one that needs to be told to appreciate that the story does not have to end on a bad note. It’s a sharing of that vision for a better future that the Camas Earth Day Society was created. We firmly believe that we have the opportunity to change the course of an old mill town and create a much brighter, more sustainable future right in our backyard.
Camas Earth Day Society President Molly McKay Williams and National Director for Earth Day 1970 and Camas native Denis Hayes, April 2024. Denis remains active in Camas issues.
Camas, Its Identity and Earth Day
The Camas paper mill (the Mill), first opened in 1884 and now occupies 660 acres including prime Columbia River waterfront. At one point it was the largest specialty paper mill in the world. The production of paper to generate jobs built a mill town that provided good working-class jobs. The mill was the centerpiece of the town and held the preeminent place. As of 1990 Camas’ population was 6,000, most of whom worked directly or indirectly at the mill (which peaked at over 2,500 employees). The mill was 70% of the city’s income. Today mill employment is down to 150, and the city is pushing 30,000 people and growing. The mill has dropped out of the top employers and contributes around 5% of the city’s income. Like many other 20th century industries, the Mill was not regulated. It created a trail of poor past waste handling and treatment practices that damaged the environment – contaminating our land, air and water. One could easily visualize Camas’ identity relegated to an old, run down, polluted eyesore at the core of its downtown. It takes someone with unique vision to look beyond the Camas of Denis’ childhood to understand a much better future. Denis Hayes understood that future, becoming the National Director of the first Earth Day in 1970. Using Pre-Internet grassroots efforts, the first Earth Day quickly quickly catalyzed seismic change. 20 million people - 10% of the country’s population, left their homes in cities and towns around the country demonstrating for clean air, land and water. Earth Day went on to become a continuing worldwide event. With a foundation built on Earth Day’s principles, Camas and its very identity can change.
Courtesy of Anna Norris
Courtesy of Anna Norris
The Need and the Opportunity
The Mill, as well as the city of Camas itself, is transforming into a crucible where the environmental movement can be renewed. For success, we remember the movement’s actual principles: Clean air, clean water and clean land. The need for shaping a better future outcome is NOW as the city is confronted by “Forever Chemicals” among other chemicals of concern which were used at the mill for decades. PFAS showed up last year in Camas’ drinking water. The city remains vague and publicly uninterested in seeking to find the source of this contamination. To date, the state has accepted, without any apparent scientific evidence, the mill’s assertion that
its historic discharges to the groundwater are not contaminating the city's adjacent sources of drinking water. Despite documented past discharges of industrial process water in unlined ditches and spills from the mill, the state apparently accepted there was no reasonable potential today OR in any contemplated future for the mill to impact Camas’ municipal drinking water. Yet Camas’ most productive well is only 1,000 feet away, and draws water from the same aquifer that the mill uses for its industrial process supply source. As shown in the Society’s diagram above, the gold shaded areas are largely left out of the remedial investigation for groundwater or other media contamination. Given the past history of disposal practices at the mill and close proximity to the City of Camas’ water supply, these areas deserve focused attention in the early investigation phase. Perhaps GP is not a source of the PFAS contamination in our drinking water - why wouldn't the Clean Up prioritize ruling out this potential as part of the start of the site testing? What do you think?
Camas’ Future, the Mill and the Society
As shown by the blue shaded portions of the mill in the photo to the right, operational areas of the Mill continue to contribute needed family-wage jobs. There are hundreds of acres of Mill property that are no longer operational and subject to the Washington Department of Ecology’s Agreed Order for cleanup. With this area larger than Camas’ existing historic downtown and the city’s waterfront, there are community concerns that the cleanup would be based on a heavy industrial use future. This would restrict the heart of Camas’ future as envisioned under the Growth Management Act by the State of Washington. Industrial use, instead of unrestricted use, would preempt either mixed use development or other scenarios where humans or other receptors have a higher risk of contact with past contamination. The Camas Earth Day Society (“the Society”) believes
that the cleanup and planning for the Mill’s future should accommodate future manufacturing activity on the cutting edge of clean and sustainable design. The size of the site can create a symbiosis with mixed uses consistent with the goals of Washington’s Growth Management Act. Specifically, the first five goals of the Act state: • Urban growth . Encourage development in urban areas • Reduce Sprawl . Reduce the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land • Transportation . Encourage efficient multimodal transportation system
Courtesy of Downtown Camas Association https://downtowncamas.com/wp-content/uploads/
• Housing . Plan for and accommodate housing affordable to all economic segments • Economic development . Encourage economic development throughout the state
The Society believes this responsible future growth is in keeping with Earth Day principles versus the current continued expansions and sprawl into the forests and its accompanying adverse impacts. The Society’s future is consistent with the Washington Legislature’s path for growth.
Join our team
The Society recognizes the expertise and commitment by other stakeholders toward issues facing Camas as the Home of Earth Day. We aim to work collaboratively to make progress on common ground issues. We recognize the need for housing and jobs, but also the needs of clean air, water and land for our survival. These environmental principles can and must co-exist with appropriate and responsible growth in downtown Camas. The uncertainty over the potential future use of the mill property must be addressed to better guide the cleanup standards applied under the Model Toxics Control Act. Now is the time to shape the outcome desired for the heart of our downtown, pressing for higher remediation standards and expanding the scope of investigation up front to not only fully remediate the site, but to also assess the extent and potential for the spread of contamination offsite from the Mill. The Society is a collection of residents drawn to Camas and Clark County for its resources, beauty, and people. Each of our lives reflects a diverse mix of interests including a passion for the outdoors, environmental issues, social justice causes, education and awareness of the importance of nature restoration and sustainable green practices so as to preserve the beauty and nature that make our town such a special place for us and future generations. We are youth. We are parents. We are grandparents. We are your neighbors. We are growing.
Join us as stewards of our environment
When we reflected on each of our individual interests, it became clear to us that the intersection of our lives was centered on what tremendous resources we have in Camas and how important it is to be stewards of these gifts. Perhaps our passion for our lives here in Camas is best summed up by Margaret Mead’s famous quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” With lessons from Denis Hayes, and perspective from the Yakama Nation, the Camas Earth Day Society was created as a new non-profit to chart a different path. We are just starting out, but already have made a difference by connecting stakeholders to a common goal, just as the original Earth Day did. Come join our efforts and be part of a rebirth of the environmental movement where it started.
We take local actions with enduring impacts for our community through Building community support for healthy, vibrant ecosystems Advancing the knowledge and understanding of sustainable development and practices Bringing technical knowledge to the discussions about our environment in Camas Becoming a leading voice in future planning activities Fostering enduring partnerships that strengthen our sustainable future Encouraging and welcoming everyone in Camas to join us in creating a better tomorrow
www.camasearthdaysociety.com
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