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Department of Ecology Press Release - October 24, 2005
05-261
BELLEVUE - The Department of Ecology (Ecology) invites the public to review and comment on a plan to respond to potential contamination at a former hazardous waste dump in southeast King County.
The proposed project would lay the groundwork for a speedy response if future tests find evidence of groundwater contamination at the now-closed Landsburg Mine.
Sampling during the past 15 years at the former mine and surrounding areas has shown no sign of groundwater contamination. Sampling and testing have occurred every three months since 2004.
Several companies deposited hazardous wastes in the closed mine - near Ravensdale, east of Kent - in the 1960s and 1970s.
The project - proposed by these companies - would install the infrastructure needed to pump out, pre-treat and pipe contaminated water to the King County sanitary sewer system in case contamination is detected. The project includes a concrete pad for a pump house and pre-treatment facility, an underground discharge line to the county sewer system and a gravel access road and parking lot.
Ecology seeks comment on an amendment to the site's agreed order written for this infrastructure proposal, and on a determination that the project does not require an environmental impact statement, or a "determination of non-significance" (DNS). The agreed order governs activities by the former mine's owner and companies known to have placed waste materials there.
A related, but separate, long-term plan to prevent contamination from migrating into nearby groundwater is under development. Continued monitoring will be part of that plan.
The original agreed order was signed in 1993 between Ecology and the Palmer Coking Coal Co., which owns the site, and Time Oil Company, Browning-Ferris Industries of Illinois, Inc., BNSF Railway Company, PACCAR Inc., and Plum Creek Timberlands, L.P.
The comment period continues through Nov. 18. Comments may be e-mailed to jcru461@ecy.wa.gov, or mailed to Jerome Cruz, Department of Ecology, 3190 160th Ave. SE, Bellevue WA, 98008, or faxed to 425-649-7098. A fact sheet, the proposed amendment and DNS, and other background information appear on the Internet at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/landsburg_mine/landsburg_mine_hp.html.
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Contact: Larry Altose, public information officer, 425-649-7009
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/landsburg_mine/landsburg_mine_hp.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
