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Department of Ecology News Release - March 3, 2010
10-040
BELLEVUE – The Boeing Company (Boeing) and the Department of Ecology (Ecology) have negotiated an agreement to test soil, groundwater, and sediments for contamination at two properties the company owns along the Duwamish Waterway in Tukwila, and to study cleanup options and develop cleanup plans for the site.
Ecology invites the public to review and comment on the accord – called an Agreed Order – and an accompanying scope of work, schedule, and public participation plan.
Boeing purchased the 9.8-acre Boeing Isaacson property at 8625 East Marginal Way South in 1984 from the Isaacson Steel Company, which operated a metals forging and galvanizing plant. In the 1940s, the Mineralized Cell Wood Preserving Co. manufactured water-resistant wood products. The site’s only building was used by Boeing for storage, and then demolished in 1989.
The 19.35-acre Boeing Thompson property, immediately south of Boeing Isaacson, at 8811 East Marginal Way South, was purchased by Boeing from the Parr Seattle Co. in 1957. Several now-vacant buildings were used for aircraft manufacturing.
Boeing has conducted preliminary environmental studies on both parcels. Some contaminated soils were treated on site in connection with the demolition of the building on the Isaacson site.
Contaminants known or suspected on the two properties include:
The Agreed Order outlines a series of steps to continue investigations into the nature and extent of the contamination at the site, including reviews of the earlier studies. The order also sets up a process for evaluating cleanup options and developing a draft cleanup action plan. All 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, scope of work, schedule and Public Participation Plan for the Boeing Isaacson/Thompson site will be available at:
Comments on the order and related documents should be sent by April 5, 2010, to Ron Timm, Ecology site manager, at:
For more background on the Boeing Isaacson/Thompson site, please see Ecology’s fact sheet on line at: www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/1009167.pdf.
To learn more about the overall Lower Duwamish Waterway cleanup, see www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/lower_duwamish/lower_duwamish_hp.html.
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Media Contacts:
Larry Altose, Ecology media relations, 206-920-2600; pager 206-663-1785
Ron Timm, Ecology site manager, 425-649-7185
For more information:
Boeing Isaacson Thompson site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/boeingIsac/boeingIsac_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.
