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Brownfields Success Stories
Duwamish Coalition Setting the Standard
The Duwamish Coalition's Brownfields Pilot is developing methods to assess and set cleanup standards for sites contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in Seattle's 11,000- acre Duwamish Industrial Corridor and across the State. After completing three case studies in early 1998, the Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE), a partner in the Pilot, drafted revisions to the State's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) that incorporate new risk-based guidelines for cleaning up TPH contamination. This framework for making decisions about the risks and cleanup of TPH was developed with the help of more than $1.6 million in leveraged funding and staff time from the Department of Ecology, King County, the City of Tukwila, the City of Seattle, the Port of Seattle, and EPA. In turn, these new guidelines and standards could save Duwamish businesses alone millions of dollars in cleanup costs, while still protecting people and the environment. Duwamish is unique among Brownfields Pilots nationwide, as it is the first and only Pilot to address petroleum contamination issues under a special agreement with EPA's Office of Underground Storage Tanks. A petroleum exclusion in the Superfund law generally prohibits such Pilot activity. Since the Duwamish Pilot project began in late 1995, Pilot, State, and local funds have been used to develop clear, cost-effective approaches to evaluate the risks TPH contaminants present to human health and the environment. Ultimately, the Pilot's efforts to streamline ways to address and clean up TPH contamination will provide a model that can be applied across the country. For more information on the Duwamish Coalition Brownfields Pilot, contact Steve Robb at (360) 407-7188.