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Department of Ecology News Release - Sept. 19, 2003
03-187
OLYMPIA - Washington's Department of Ecology (Ecology) has added 29 properties to its list of contaminated sites that are targeted for cleanup and removed 12 that have been cleaned up and no longer pose a threat.
The 29 newly identified sites are located in 15 counties: Benton, Clark, Island, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Okanogan, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston and Whatcom.
The 12 sites removed from the list are located in Adams, Franklin, King, Kitsap, Klickitat, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane and Thurston counties.
Of 9,451 sites identified over the past 14 years as potentially contaminated with toxic substances, more than half (5,400) have been cleaned up. Of the remaining 4,051 sites, 890 have been confirmed as contaminated and ranked for cleanup, and the rest have either not been assessed yet or have not begun the cleanup process.
About 3,011 contaminated sites across Washington currently have cleanups in progress. Some of them are on the state's ranked list, while the others are being cleaned up independently.
"Updating this information regularly lets us and the public know what's out there and what we are accomplishing," said Jim Pendowski, the toxics-cleanup manager for Ecology. "As time goes on and technologies improve, we find out more about historical contamination, but also how to remedy it. We're definitely making great progress."
Pendowski said it is important to note the number of sites coming off the list, because delistings represent a lot of intensive and lengthy work by site owners and Ecology employees to clean up contamination that, in some cases, had been deposited over decades.
Cleanup is required at sites where levels of toxic substances are above limits set in the state's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), a 1989 citizen initiative that established a broad-based program for cleaning and preventing toxic contamination.
The properties on Ecology's ranked, hazardous-sites list are graded on a scale of one to five, with a rank of one representing the highest level of concern.
The scores do not necessarily reflect the severity of the contamination, but are based on the site's location and the potential paths through which humans and sensitive environments could be exposed to the hazardous substances. Thus, a site with a number one ranking may have less contamination or less-hazardous contaminants than lower-ranked sites, but the risk of exposure is higher and cleanup needs to happen quicker.
MTCA specifies that those responsible for polluting a site must pay for its cleanup. The state pays for cleanup only when a liable person cannot be found or when identified liable parties lack the financial resources to pay for the work.
Nearly every county in Washington has one or more properties on the hazardous-sites list. Most are in Western Washington, where historically there have been more industrial and manufacturing practices.
The hazardous-sites list is updated twice a year, in February and August. The sites added at the end of August 2003 include:
Benton County - Prosser Gold Mine, rank 4.
Clark County - Three sites at U.S. Army Camp Bonneville in Proebstel: remedial action unit (RAU) 1 is rank 2, while RAU 2 and 3 are rank 1.
Island County - Melco Manufacturing in Oak Harbor, rank 5.
King County - The property at 26930 262nd Ave. S.E. in Ravensdale, rank 4; the property at 12631 and 12633 N.E. Woodinville Drive in Woodinville, rank 3; and the property at 9420 Rainier Ave. South in Seattle, rank 5.
Kitsap County - Kitsap County Silverdale Landfill in Silverdale, rank 3; Wilkins Distributing Company in Port Orchard, rank 4; and the Bremerton School District Haddon in Bremerton, rank 5.
Kittitas County - Simpsons Texaco in Cle Elum, rank 5.
Klickitat County - Hunsaker Oil Company station in Bingen, rank 5.
Lewis County - Two sites in Centralia: the former Phillips Petroleum Distributor site and the John H. Harland Company site, both rank 5.
Okanogan County - The property at 130 Pickens Valley Road in Tonasket, rank 5.
Pierce County - Shear Transport Inc. in Buckley, rank 4, and Woodworth Lakeview Gravel Pit in Tacoma, rank 2.
Snohomish County - Cascade Cleaners in Snohomish, rank 5; the property located at Bond St. and Kromer Avenue in Everett, rank 4; and the Upper Ridge Reservoir site, rank 5.
Spokane County - The Burlington Northern Santa Fe site Hillyard in Spokane, rank 1.
Stevens County - Carlson Distributing Company in Colville, rank 5.
Thurston County - Olympic Pipe Line Company in Rainier, rank 2, and the former gas station at 319 Wichman St. in Tenino, rank 2.
Whatcom County - BC Corporation, rank 3, and the Exxon Mobil Oil corporation site, rank 5, both in Bellingham; the Burlington Northern Railroad site in Acme, rank 4; and the Seattle City Light site in Diablo, rank 5.
The sites taken off the list at the end of August 2003 are:
Adams County - Burlington Northern Railroad site in Othello. It was ranked 1.
Franklin County - Glens Metals in Pasco, previously ranked 5.
King County - Two sites in Seattle: the property at 4459 26th Ave. W., was ranked 4, and the property at 8856 16th Ave. S.W., was ranked 2.
Kitsap County - Pope & Talbot Industrial Landfill in Port Gamble. It had been ranked 2.
Klickitat County - Klickitat Valley Sawmills in Klickitat, was ranked 2.
Pierce County - The property at 30220 72nd Ave. S. in Roy, was ranked 1, and Sound Battery in Tacoma, was a federal Superfund site and not ranked by Ecology.
Snohomish County - The former Black Tie Formal Wear site in Lynnwood, previously ranked 5.
Spokane County - American Armored Pawn Shop in Veradale, had been ranked 5, and Carburetor Ignition in Spokane, had been ranked 3.
Thurston County - Unocal Hulco Bulk Plant in Olympia. It had been ranked 4.
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Contact: Caitlin Cormier, public information officer, 360-407-6149; pager, 360-971-5536
For more information:
Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program -
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/cleanup.html
Hazardous-sites list -
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/mtca_gen/hazsites.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
