Perhaps the most serious threat to the Bay ecosystem is the presence of numerous contaminated industrial facilities and properties. For several decades timber companies used the fungicide pentachlorophenol ("penta") to preserve lumber at their mills. Penta is itself a potent carcinogen, but, more importantly, commercial-grade penta contains dioxin. As it is one of the most sinister reproductive and developmental toxins on the planet, there is no safe level of exposure to dioxin. In addition, the chemicals were often applied sloppily, using massive dip tanks and spray operations, and nearly all mills that treated wood are now contaminated with dioxin. Because it is so persistent in the environment, dioxin continues to be discharged from these mills into local streams, rivers, and into Humboldt Bay.
Other sources of dioxin contamination also exist, including Humboldt Bay's two pulp mills. Though one has been deactivated, it continues to be a potential source of contamination.
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Humboldt Bay 
