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Department of Ecology News Release - October 24, 2002
02-192
SPOKANE - Finding out how much PCB contamination is in the sediments behind Upriver Dam and determining the best way to clean it up are the goals of a proposed legal agreement between the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), Avista Development Inc. and Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.
The public has a chance to review and comment on the proposed agreement from Oct. 25 through Nov. 23.
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are a group of manufactured synthetic chemicals once used as insulating fluids, coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors or other electrical equipment. They also were used in inks and carbonless paper and as heat-transfer and hydraulic fluids.
PCBs stopped being manufactured in the U.S. in 1977 because of evidence they build up in the environment and may cause health problems.
The proposed legal agreement, in the form of a consent decree, commits the parties to complete a remedial investigation and feasibility study of the site, which runs from approximately river-mile 80 near the Upriver Dam and continues upstream to near river-mile 85, by the Centennial Trail footbridge.
The purpose of the remedial investigation is to evaluate the extent of PCBs in sediments in and along the Spokane River. The feasibility study will identify and evaluate alternatives for addressing the PCBs.
"We're happy to have an agreement in place so we can start moving on this," said Flora Goldstein, acting director of Ecology's eastern region. "Cleaning up the sediments behind the dam is a key step in the long-term cleanup of the Spokane River."
Researchers began finding PCBs in fish from the Spokane River as early as 1978. In August 1999, people were advised to avoid eating three species of fish because of higher-than-normal lead levels. In March 2001, that health advisory was revised to recommend that people avoid or strictly limit their consumption of fish caught in the river above Upriver Dam because of PCBs found in fish tissue.
Avista is the successor to the Pentzer Development Corporation, which used to own Spokane Industrial Park. Pentzer discharged industrial waste water to the Spokane River prior to 1994. Since 1994, the industrial park's waste water has been discharged to Spokane's treatment plant.
Kaiser owns and operates the Kaiser Trentwood Works in Spokane, which is allowed to discharge industrial waste water to the Spokane River under the terms of its water-quality permit. Kaiser has made numerous improvements to reduce PCBs in its discharges.
The remedial investigation and feasibility study are expected to be done by the end of 2004. Ecology will incorporate the results with a similar study prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the Coeur d'Alene Basin. The EPA effort focuses on heavy-metals contamination in the river, such as zinc, arsenic, cadmium and lead.
Cleanup actions focused on PCBs in sediments behind Upriver Dam will be coordinated, to the extent possible, with the EPA's cleanup plans for the Spokane River.
Ecology also is developing an assessment of how and where PCBs are entering the river so steps can be taken to halt those sources. A draft report of the assessment is expected in the summer of 2004.
The proposed agreement can be found at the Argonne County Library, 4322 N. Argonne Rd.; at the Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main; and at Ecology's Spokane office, 4601 N. Monroe St.
A fact sheet explaining the proposal has been translated into four languages: Russian, Spanish, Hmong and Vietnamese. It is available on-line under the Spokane River section at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/sites.html.
Contact: Jani Gilbert, public information, 509-456-4464; pager, 509-226-5380.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
