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Department of Ecology News Release - June 18, 2009
09-146
BELLEVUE – The current owner and a former occupant of the Glacier Northwest property along the Duwamish Waterway in Seattle have signed an agreement with the Department of Ecology (Ecology) to test soil, groundwater, surface water and adjacent sediments for contamination at the site as the first step toward its long-term cleanup.
Ecology invites the public to review and comment on the accord – called an Agreed Order – and an accompanying public participation plan.
The 18-acre area – located at 5900 West Marginal Way SW – belongs to Glacier Northwest, Inc. (Glacier), which operates a cement storage and distribution facility. Reichhold Inc. formerly manufactured chemicals, including plywood resin glues and industrial pesticides, at the site. Earlier occupants of the property conducted other industrial activities.
Glacier and Reichhold are parties to the Agreed Order with Ecology, and have conducted investigations and some cleanup work at the site. Those studies have found metals and phenols, including pentachlorophenol, in soil; pentachlorophenol and arsenic in groundwater; dioxins in sediment; and arsenic in surface water seeps.
The Agreed Order outlines a series of steps to continue investigations into the extent of the site’s contamination, including reviews of the earlier studies. The order also sets up a process for evaluating cleanup options and developing a draft cleanup plan. All of these stages will be subject to public review and comment and Ecology review and approval.
The cleanup will contribute to a larger effort to control sources of contamination in Duwamish Waterway sediments – the mud at the bottom. Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly oversee the Lower Duwamish Waterway cleanup site, approximately five miles of waterway upstream from Harbor Island, for contaminated sediments.
Cleanups of this and other sites in Lower Duwamish area are significant parts of Ecology’s efforts to reduce and prevent toxic threats to the environment and to support the Governor’s Puget Sound Initiative – a cooperative effort among state, local, federal and tribal governments, businesses and organizations to protect and restore Washington’s inland marine waters.
The proposed Agreed Order and Public Participation Plan for the Glacier-Reichhold site will be available at:
Comments on the order and plan should be sent by July 20, 2009, to Donna Ortiz, Ecology site manager, at: • 3190 160th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 98008 • dort461@ecy.wa.gov
For more background on the Glacier-Reichhold site, please see Ecology’s fact sheet on line at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0909178.html
To learn more about the overall Lower Duwamish Waterway cleanup, please see http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/lower_duwamish/lower_duwamish_hp.html
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Media Contacts: Larry Altose, Ecology media relations, 425-649-7009; pager
206-663-1785
Donna Ortiz, Ecology site manager, 425-649-7231
For more information: Glacier Northwest site:http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/glacierNW_LDWW/glacierNW_LDWW_hp.html
Lower Duwamish cleanup site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/lower_duwamish/lower_duwamish_hp.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
