Washington State Department of Ecology

News Release

Department of Ecology News Release - Oct. 17, 2000

00-203

Cleanup agreement proposed for Superfund site in Hillyard

Spokane - Two proposed legal settlements would launch a petroleum cleanup beneath a site on North Market Street, which includes the Tosco Fuel Terminal. Those proposed settlements are now available for public review.

The proposed "consent decrees" would be between the state Department of Ecology (Ecology), Phillips Petroleum Company and Tosco Refining Company. Both companies have contributed to the contamination at the North Market Street site.

The settlements would implement a "cleanup action plan" that sets the goals and selects the cleanup methods for the project.

Dissolved gasoline, diesel and heavy oil contamination have been identified in the soil and in the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie aquifer beneath the site at levels high enough to require cleanup. Petroleum chemicals in the ground water are detectable over a distance of about one-mile.

Public comments on the consent decrees will be accepted until Nov. 10. A public hearing also is planned for Tuesday, Oct. 24, from 7-9 p.m. at the Department of Ecology office, 4601 N. Monroe St.

After considering public comments, Ecology and the two companies plan to file the consent decrees in Spokane Superior Court

Ecology also proposes enter a "de minimis consent degree" with Chevron Pipeline Company because the contamination on the Chevron property appears to be insignificant compared to the contamination on the other properties.

Under the agreement, Chevron will pay Ecology for its portion of the cleanup expenses, anticipated to be about $158,000. Once the payment is made, Chevron's role will end unless new information is discovered in the future.

"We're relieved that we have finally reached agreement with these companies on how to proceed at this very significant site," said Flora Goldstein, a toxic cleanup manager for Ecology. "We have all worked long and hard to come up with a fair action plan that will protect public health and the environment. It's time to get on with it."

The North Market Street site was developed in the late 1930s as an oil refinery complex. By the late 1940s, the refinery complex had an estimated daily output of approximately 314,832 gallons of refined petroleum products. Waste management practices common during that era resulted in petroleum spills into the environment.

Although refinery operations were discontinued in 1953, the Tosco Spokane Terminal still supplies the Spokane area with refined petroleum products, primarily automotive fuels.

At least two spills of petroleum products have occurred at the Tosco Terminal since 1976, contaminating the ground water in the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie sole-source aquifer.

In 1984, state officials sampled three private water wells in the area and confirmed that groundwater was contaminated by petroleum. The wells were shut down and Ecology supplied bottled water until an alternative source was developed.

In 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listed the North Market Street site as a federal Superfund site, requiring cleanup. Ecology assumed the lead to direct the cleanup under the authority of the state's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA).

If the consent decrees are approved, cleanup at the North Market Street site could begin in early 2001.

Contact: Jani Gilbert, Public Information manager, 509-456-4464; pager, 509-622-1289