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Department of Ecology News Release - October 26, 2011
11-296
YAKIMA – Crews last week tore down an old, abandoned building in Buena as part of a significant cleanup project in the Central Washington community.
Muffet & Sons Construction demolished the former Roby’s Service Station in Buena on Oct. 18, 2011. The Yakima County Code Enforcement Division used money provided by the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) to hire the contractor.
“This is a huge step for us in terms of being able to get at the contamination. We knew the groundwater was contaminated – now we’ll finally be able to address it at the source,” said Valerie Bound, who heads Ecology’s Toxics Cleanup Program at Yakima.
Yakima County had classified the building as unsafe after a fire damaged it several years ago.
In 2001, Ecology removed five underground storage tanks from the Roby’s property on the corner of Burr Street and Buena Road. To track the movement of the contamination there and at three other old gas stations, Ecology installed 16 groundwater monitoring wells throughout the town.
Now that the building is gone, the site’s underground contamination will be examined. After that, Ecology will work with its contractors to begin removing contamination so the property may be redeveloped to benefit the Buena community.
Roby’s Service Station, along with the Gold Nugget Market in Buena, are included in Ecology’s Eastern Washington Cleanup Sites Initiative. The 2011 Legislature provided $6 million to Ecology in the 2011-13 budget to work with communities to clean up several sites in Central and Eastern Washington.
“We appreciate that the Legislature realizes cleanup is important to the environment, health and economy of our local communities,” Bound said. “Funding for this initiative, now and in the future, gives us the ability to work with local partners on projects that improve their quality of life.”
The money comes from the state’s voter-approved tax on hazardous substances. Funds will be used to clean up properties where the responsible party (land user, facility operator or property owner) could not be found or can’t pay cleanup costs. These sites range from old gas stations where fuel leaked into groundwater, to former mining areas contaminated by cyanide, mercury and other metals.
The initiative is a community-based effort that fits Ecology’s priority to “reduce toxic threats” to people and the environment. Ecology chose communities where sites are concentrated, so cleanup work can produce a number of benefits with minimal costs.
Cleanup work improves and protects the environment. It also provides opportunities to local communities to use formerly contaminated properties for economic development, public access and other purposes.
In addition, cleanup workers typically provide a boost to the local economy by spending money on food, fuel, lodging, and other goods and services in the community where they’re employed.
Economic estimates show that every cleanup dollar that is spent creates:
Other sites included in the Eastern Washington Clean Sites Initiative:
Yakima County: Ecology is assessing cleanup possibilities for at least three sites in Sunnyside where leaking petroleum tanks caused contamination. The three identified sites are Pik a Pop 11, 1524 Yakima Valley Highway; CMG Property, 502 North Ave.; and Pet Health Clinic, 2210 E. Edison Ave. Site investigation work is scheduled to begin in November; cleanup options will be identified by spring of 2012.
Kittitas County: Petroleum contamination spread over six to 10 blocks from a number of old gas stations along Cle Elum’s First Street. Monitoring wells were installed in the early 1990s to keep an eye on this contamination. Several replacement wells and new wells should be installed to provide added assessment. Ecology expects to start work start in 2012. Other sites in Kittitas County include an old abandoned gas station at the intersection of Vantage Highway and Naneum Road.
Okanogan County: Ecology is evaluating cleanup options for the King’s Pacific Pride site in Twisp. The site is an existing fueling station with known petroleum-contaminated soils onsite from historic fueling operations. This site has been a fueling station since the 1940s.
Chelan County: The Headwaters Inn, a former fueling station at Lake Wenatchee, will be investigated and remediated. Underground storage tanks already were removed; Ecology expects that additional soil excavation and groundwater monitoring will be needed.
Ione: Work is scheduled to begin this fall at the Airport Kwik Stop, formerly a convenience store with gasoline sales, at State Route 31 and Greenhouse Road. At least one historical release of petroleum has been confirmed at the site. Contaminated groundwater is affecting a nearby business, the Cabin Grill, and is moving toward other wells. Ecology will develop cleanup options and begin cleanup work.
Walla Walla: Schwerin Concaves operated a hard chromium electroplating business from the late 1970s to 2000. Schwerin electroplated internal farm combine components called concaves, which remove husks from grain kernels. Hexavalent chromium is present in groundwater and soil. Groundwater also contains elevated levels of arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead, zinc, nitrate, and sulfate. Cleanup is scheduled to start in 2012.
Spokane River beach cleanups: Heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, zinc, and cadmium from historic mining practices in Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Basin washed downstream and settled in soil and sediment along certain beaches of the Spokane River. Nine shoreline areas in Washington have been identified for restoration. The goal is to prevent exposure to heavy metals by removing or capping contamination. Five sites have been cleaned up so far; four more are planned for late summer 2012. Those sites include Barker Road North, Barker Road South, Myrtle Point, and Islands Lagoon.
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Links to photos of Roby’s Service Station demolition:
Media Contacts:
Ecology’s social media (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/about/newmedia.html)
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