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Camas mill prepares to demolish several unused structures

Warehouses, black liquor tanks, office among those slated for removal

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Black liquor storage tanks built in 1971, and scheduled for demolition in 2023, sit at the Georgia-Pacific paper mill in Camas. (Contributed photo courtesy of the city of Camas)

The Georgia-Pacific paper mill is gearing up to demolish several unused buildings and structures.

The company has said the demolition work, which will take existing buildings and structures down to their slabs, is expected to take eight months to complete, beginning as soon as the project has received approval and lasting through the spring or early summer of 2023.

The mill’s list of more than 30 structures expected to be demolished includes: the 12,000-square-foot south mill office built in 1981; four warehouses also built in the 1980s, black liquor storage tanks constructed in 1971, a lime kiln built in 1979, various shops and laboratory buildings, above-ground tanks, a water pipeline trestle, a chip conveyor built in 1948, another chip conveyor constructed in 1982; and a tube conveyor from the early 1980s.

The demolition work will take place on the mill’s heavy-industrial zoned land bordered by Northeast Sixth Avenue to the north and the Camas Slough to the south.

The demolitions are part of the mill’s downsizing, which began in 2018 with the closure of one of two existing paper lines as well as the pulp mill operations.

“The mill’s intention with the proposed demolition is to reduce safety risks and costs generated by maintaining the non-operational buildings and equipment,” the mill’s representative told city staff in the company’s project application, adding that “demolishing the older and idle buildings and structures on the (mill property) also falls in line with the City’s public and environmental safety goals.”

To read more about the proposed demolition project, visit tinyurl.com/3mk4xbsx

On Nov. 24, the city of Camas issued a determination of non-significance as required by the state’s Environmental Policy Act, regarding the environmental impacts of the proposed structure abatements, removals and demolitions, ruling any environmental impacts can be addressed by applying city codes.

The public can comment on the city’s ruling through 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, by emailing communitydevel opment@cityofcamas.us.