  |
|
|
Department of Ecology News Release - December 27, 2007
07-379
SPOKANE – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) and three former owners of the City Parcel facility on North Cook Street have reached three separate settlements in the case to clean up PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) at City Parcel.
The public will have until Jan. 24, 2008, to review and comment on the settlement.
The settlement agreements, called Consent Decrees, are with Richard Boyce, Jerry Overton, and Paul Gisselberg who are responsible for cleaning up the site. The agreements require each of the responsible parties to contribute money toward that effort.
Boyce owned the site when it was a transformer repair and recycling operation until 1974. Overton leased the property from Boyce and operated Spokane Transformer until the property was sold to City Parcel’s owner, Paul Gisselberg, in 1980.
The pollution resulted from the transformer operations, but under the state’s cleanup laws, past and current property owners also are held liable.
The total settlement amount from Boyce, Overton and Gisselberg is about $270,000. The site cleanup is estimated at over $1 million. The state will need to shoulder the remainder of the bill.
Additionally, the Consent Decree with Gisselberg requires him, as the current owner, to record a lien against the City Parcel property and activate an environmental covenant to restrict the way the land can be used. Gisselberg also is required to grant Ecology access to the property to conduct the cleanup.
Results of investigations at the site show extensive PCB contamination in soils in the gravel parking area and alley. Investigators also found contamination inside the building in dry wells and drain lines.
A dry well outside the building also is contaminated with PCBs. Sampling indicated that PCBs are not in the groundwater at the site.
PCBs are a mixture of man-made chemicals historically used as insulating fluids, coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors or other electrical equipment. PCB production ended in the United States in 1977 because they build up in the environment and can be harmful to human health.
Exposure to PCBs can cause a number of health problems from skin rashes to liver and thyroid damage and birth defects. Other effects of PCBs that scientists have observed in animals include changes in the immune system, behavioral alterations, and impaired reproduction.
Because the parties were unable to reach agreement on studying and cleaning up the site, Ecology conducted a study to characterize the contamination, using state funds. Ecology then prepared a cleanup action plan in 2004 and the public was invited to review and comment on all the documents.
Boyce, Overton and Gisselberg failed to comply with requirements to clean up the site, so Ecology took legal action against the parties.
Ecology expects to start work in 2008 to remove tanks, dry wells and drain lines and remove contaminated soil. In addition any liquid PCBs that are found will be incinerated off-site and land use restrictions will be applied to the property. For example, the site may be restricted to industrial purposes only.
The public can review settlement documents at Ecology’s Spokane office on 4601 N. Monroe St., or at Spokane Public Library-East Site, 524 S. Stone St. To review the documents at Ecology, contact Johnnie Landis at 509-329-3415.
Comments should be submitted to Teresita Bala at 509/329-3543, or by e-mail at tbal461@ecy.wa.gov.
# # #
Media contact: Jani Gilbert, public information manager, 509-329-3495; cell, 509-990-9177.
Ecology’s Toxics Cleanup Website: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/city_parcel/city_parcel_hp.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
