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Sites in Reuse in Washington
Alcoa Smelter
Vanalco Corporation, an aluminum smelter operator, has taken over the old factory at the former Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) smelter, next to the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. For years, spent potliners containing cyanide and fluoride were dumped outside the factory, contaminating soil and ground water. In 1990, EPA added the site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup, and worked with Alcoa to remove 50,000 tons of potliners and place them in a hazardous waste landfill, making this valuable riverfront property available for use. The Alcoa smelter closed, but was purchased by Vanalco Corporation in the early 1980s, and now employs 680 people in its aluminum smelting operations.
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American Crossarm & Conduit Co.
The sale of the American Crossarm Superfund site in Chehalis, Washington, for $20,000 at a county tax auction was not just a good deal, it also marked the end of a legacy of contamination and the beginning of a new chapter for the property. During its operation, American Crossarm & Conduit Co. dumped wastewater contaminated with wood treating chemicals into an unlined pit on the 16‐acre site. This activity, combined with periodic flooding from nearby rivers, spread hazardous wastes to nearby properties and contaminated the ground water. In 1989, EPA added the site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup. Once the site was listed, contaminated soil was removed, structures were demolished, oil was removed from the ground water, and excavated areas were covered with clean soil. The site was attractive for redevelopment, however EPA's $15.5 million lien for cleanup of the property presented a barrier to developers. The current owner approached EPA about building on the site, and EPA agreed to remove its lien on the condition that the owner add fill so the property would be above the flood plain. The owner also agreed not to dig into the site’s cap, use the ground water, or sell the property without passing on the land use restrictions. This agreement made redevelopment a reality at the site. The owner built one structure in 1998, which upon completion was sold for use as a machine shop. A second two‐story building, currently occupied by Chehalis Fitlife Center, was completed in 2002. As required by the site’s institutional controls, both structures were built on filled soil pads constructed above the site‐wide soil cover.
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ASARCO Tacoma Smelter
Like so many other ports across the country, the shores of Commencement Bay in Tacoma, Washington, have long been home to industry. The cleanup and redevelopment of the 67-acre ASARCO Tacoma Smelter is a model of cooperation among EPA, the local community, and the potentially responsible party for the contamination. From 1890 to 1985, ASARCO used the property to smelt and refine lead and copper. This resulted in the release of metals into the soil, air, the bay, and ground water. In 1983, EPA added the site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup. After public meetings, ASARCO and EPA developed a comprehensive plan for cleanup which incorporated local redevelopment ideas into the cleanup. Key components include demolishing buildings and structures, installing a cap, and protecting the shoreline against erosion. ASARCO will also extend an existing path along the waterfront, design and construct the cap to support baseball fields or an amphitheater, and pave the remainder of the site to make way for new buildings. Cleanup and reuse activities have already begun. The spirit of cooperation maintained by ASARCO, EPA, and local citizens, will allow residents of Tacoma to enjoy this former industrial site.
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Boonsnub/Airco
The Boomsnub property was the location of a chrome plating facility from 1967 to 1994, when it ceased operation under a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) from the EPA. The 11‐acre BOC Gases property was originally owned and operated by Airco and is now operated by BOC Gases for the manufacture and distribution of specialty compressed gases.
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Commencement Bay
The Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats Superfund site is located in Pierce County, Washington and covers 12 square miles in Puget Sound. Since the late 1800s, shipbuilding, oil refining, chemical manufacturing and storage, and other industrial activities have resulted in hazardous waste contamination of soils, shallow sediments, and waterways within Commencement Bay. In 1983, EPA added the site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup. After the site was listed, EPA worked closely with Washington State Department of Ecology (WDOE) and the Port of Tacoma to design and implement a clean up for the Sitcum Waterway portion of the bay. In 1989, EPA selected a remedy that called for sediment dredging and relocation, and capping throughout the four principal contamination areas of the site. By using a slip as a confined disposal site for contaminated sediments, cleanup activities resulted in newly available land on the Milwaukee Waterway. This additional space enabled an existing land-sea marine terminal facility to expand and increase the volume of its business, helping make the Port of Tacoma the seventh largest container port in the nation. As part of remediation of the St. Paul Waterway, potentially responsible parties restored 11 acres of shallow marine habitat for ecological reuse. Remedial activities also allowed for the construction of the Chihuly Bridge of Glass public art project and the restoration of 70-acres of estuarine habitat. In 2006, approximately 67 acres along Ruston Way on Commencement Bay, one of the project remediation areas, was purchased by MC Construction. The company, operating as Point Ruston, LLC plans to complete remediation to residential standards before undertaking construction of 35 custom homes, 800 condominium units, and 100,000 square feet of commercial space along the waterfront of the bay. Remediation is scheduled for completion in 2013 and EPA continues to work with landowners and local governments to coordinate remedial plans with the communities’ goals for future land use.
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FMC Corporation (Yakima Pit)
The FMC Corp. (Yakima Pit) site, covering approximately 4 acres in Yakima, Washington, operated as a pesticide formulation facility from 1951 until 1986. From 1952 to 1969, FMC disposed of agricultural pesticides in a "poison pit" on-site. Some of the pesticides that may have been disposed of in the pit include DDT, diazinon, and dieldrin. A 6-foot chain link fence restricts access to the pit area. The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1983 when ground water and soil were discovered to be contaminated with various pesticides, including DDT derivatives. In 1988-89, FMC, under an Administrative Order, disposed of approximately 850 tons of contaminated soil in a federally-approved facility. In 1990, EPA selected a final remedy that included: additional sampling to further determine the extent of contamination; excavation of contaminated soils; on-site incineration of excavated soils; removal and disposal of other contaminated materials; and on-site disposal of incinerated soils after sampling indicated that the incinerated soil met cleanup standards. FMC completed the site cleanup under an EPA Consent Decree in 1993. The site is being fully reused for light industrial purposes, including an active metal fabrication facility and parking lot, True Value Hardware store and Plant Resale Nursery, Butler RV Sales and Service Company, and Stephens Metal Products.
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USDOE Hanford 1100 Area
The U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) Hanford 1100 Area covers 120 square miles near Richland, Washington. It is one of four areas at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation that are on EPA's list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup. Beginning with the Manhattan Project in 1943, and for the next 50 years, plutonium was produced at the site. The Hanford 1100 Area served as a maintenance and transportation distribution center for other areas of Hanford. The research and production of nuclear weapons resulted in widespread contamination of the area ground water and soil. The EPA added the site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup in 1989. Beginning in 1993, under the terms of an agreement among EPA, USDOE, and the state, USDOE removed contaminated soil and covered an on-site landfill. With cleanup complete, 786 acres of the Hanford 1100 Area and the southern end of the Hanford railroad were transferred to the Port of Benton, a local economic development organization. The area offers a prime location and access to major rail carriers. A portion of the property has been leased to the Livingston Rebuild Center as a railroad repair and training center. When complete, redevelopment will support 500 jobs.
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Lockheed West Seattle
The Lockheed West Seattle site is a former shipyard located in Seattle, Washington, on the southwestern shoreline of Elliott Bay. The former shipyard operated from 1946 until 1986; it was sold to the Port of Seattle in 1992. The uplands portion of the old shipyard is approximately 25 acres and aquatic area is approximately 27 acres. The site had three dry docks, four piers, and a shipway. All of these structures have been removed except for the shipway, and two of the piers which no longer have decking. Past industrial practices at the shipyard have resulted in contamination of the sediments. During the years of operation, paint, metal scrapings and sandblast grit from boat refurbishing activities were discharged directly to the adjacent surface water body (i.e., Elliot Bay). The uplands portion (25 acres) of the old shipyard, which was remediated under state authority, is now part of Terminal 5, one of the Port’s container shipping facilities.
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Northside Landfill
The Northside Landfill is located on a 345‐acre parcel of land in northwestern Spokane, Washington. The site was established as a city landfill in 1931 and was the largest refuse disposal operation in Spokane County. The site was used for open burning until the mid‐1950s, when open burning was replaced with shallow excavation and fill operations. In the 1960s, the process of covering refuse‐filled trenches and canyons with soil was used. In the mid‐1970s, an area fill technique was started using 20‐foot lifts (20 feet thick layers) on previously buried refuse. The existing landfill stopped receiving refuse in December, 1991. More recently, a new waste disposal cell, meeting all new State requirements for landfills, was constructed on a 15-acre parcel of the site. The County continues to operate this 15-acre landfill while managing the rest of the site as a closed landfill.
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Northwest Transformer (South Harkness Street)
The old building on an abandoned lot in Everson, Washington, was falling apart, its roof caving in from the weight of collected rainwater. The Northwest Transformer Service Company, a transformer reclamation, storage, and manufacturing facility, declared bankruptcy in 1987 and left the property contaminated with PCBs. In 1990, the EPA added this site to the National Priorities List (NPL). In 1992, EPA began working closely with local government officials, the parties potentially responsible for the contamination, and nearby residents to develop a cleanup and reuse plan for the one‐acre property. By 1995, the potentially responsible parties had removed the PCB-contaminated soil and covered the site with a new asphalt parking lot. The site was deleted from the NPL in 1997. Today, the site is no longer a hazard or an eyesore, but instead is providing much needed parking space for the nearby Town Hall and an adjacent Senior Center.
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Oeser Company
The Oeser Company, located in a mixed residential and industrial area of Bellingham, Washington prepares and treats wood poles for utility companies. Most of the approximately 23.5 acre site is used to store treated and untreated logs. The wood‐treating plant covers about three acres of the site. Creosote, which contains semivolatile organic compounds, has been used as a wood treating preservative in the past. Since the 1970's, oil containing pentachlorophenol (PCP) has been the primary wood treating agent. Over the years, creosote, PCP, and carrier oil have been released to the environment. Contamination is most severe in the wood‐treatment area, where surface soil, subsurface soil, and ground water are contaminated with these substances. PCP and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels of several hundred to several thousand parts per million (ppm) are common in subsurface soil and a light non‐aqueous phase liquid (presumably lost PCP solution) has been recovered from monitoring wells. Soil contaminated with PCP, PAHs, and carrier oil also has been found in other areas of the facility and dioxin, a contaminant present in a commercial-grade PCP, has been found in facility. The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1997.The selected remedy includes capping, excavation, institutional controls to limit ground water use and non‐industrial use, ground water monitoring, and long term maintenance of the caps. In 2006 and 2007, The Oeser Company capped on‐site soils to eliminate direct contact exposure to workers from shallow soil contamination. In addition, two tanks containing excess creosote product from historic operations were drained, dismantled and disposed of in accordance with state and federal regulations. Repairs were also completed on a damaged storm drain to eliminate this potential pathway of contaminant migration from surface soil. The Oeser Company continues to operate on the site.
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Pacific Sound Resources
The Pacific Sound Resources (PSR) site, formerly known as the Wyckoff West Seattle Wood Treating facility, is located on the south shore of Elliott Bay on the Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington. The PSR site encompasses 83 acres, 58 acres of which are tidal. Although residential areas are located within one mile of the site, the surrounding areas are primarily commercial and industrial. From the turn of the century until 1994, when the site was listed on the National Priorities List, a wood treating facility operating on-site released creosote and related hazardous contaminants into the ground. These contaminants eventually seeped into the tidal sediments. Cleanup actions included soil and sediment excavation, construction of an upland slurry wall and a low permeability cap. The upland property was purchased by the Port of Seattle in 1994 and was included in the Port's larger redevelopment and expansion project in West Seattle to construct a modern intermodal container terminal facility. During this period, the Port implemented several upland early cleanup actions, under EPA oversight, to control releases from the site and to prepare it for reuse. The southern portion of the upland unit is currently being utilized by the Port as part of their intermodal container terminal facility, and the northern portion has been reconstructed as a public waterfront park.
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Port Hadlock Detachment
Port Hadlock Detachment Superfund site, on Indian Island in Jefferson County, Washington, was the primary landfill for Indian Island from about 1945 until the mid-1970s. The U.S. Navy purchased the Island in 1939 for storage and handling of munitions, which resulted in soil, ground water, sediment, and shellfish contamination with heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, and pesticides. In 1994, EPA added the site to its list of hazardous sites needing cleanup. As part of the cleanup, the portion of the landfill that had leaked into the surrounding beaches was contained and capped. This action prevents contamination from migrating, which is key to protecting the surrounding ecosystem. As a result of cleanup, several beaches on the east side of the island, and Crane Point on the west side of the island, have been reopened. Cleanup has also enabled a local Native American tribe to regain access to their tribal fishing grounds on the island. Today, Port Hadlock Detachment receives, stores, maintains, and issues naval ordnance.
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Silver Mountain Mine
Cattle graze on a pasture amidst the Okanogan hills in a remote part of Washington State. Okanogan County is known for timber, ranching, mining, and the Omak Suicide Race, where every year cowboys race their mounts down a 200‐foot cliff in a quest for glory. It seems strange that pollution would threaten this rural community of 33,000 people. But in 1982, EPA and the Washington Department of Ecology were alerted that the abandoned Silver Mountain Mine was contaminating grazing lands with deadly cyanide and other heavy metals. From 1902 to the 1960s, the Silver Mountain Mine operated sporadically, producing small amounts of silver and gold. In the early 1980s, speculators returned to the mine and used chemicals to extract precious metals from the old ore tailings. When this operation was no longer profitable, the speculators departed. They left behind more than 7,000 tons of cyanide‐laced mine tailings and a basin filled with 20,000 gallons of cyanide‐contaminated water. In 1985, the Washington Department of Ecology treated the cyanide‐tainted water on site. EPA then added the site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup in 1986. EPA closed the mine entrance, and placed the contaminated mine tailings under a protective cap. With the capped area fenced off, EPA revegetated the land around the mine. A partnership between EPA, the State of Washington, the local community, and a local rancher resulted in a cleanup that made it possible to once again use portions of the site as grazing land for cattle. The site’s last Five‐Year Review found the cap in excellent condition and institutional controls in‐place and effective at preserving the remedy while permitting reuse.
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Spokane Junkyard and Associated Properties
The 16‐acre Spokane Junkyard and Associated Properties Superfund site in Spokane, Washington, accepted military surplus items, automobiles, heavy equipment, appliances, and electrical transformers from the 1940s until 1983. In 1987, an explosion and fire at the junkyard caused several firemen to be overcome by toxic fumes and blue‐green smoke. Upon investigation, EPA found heavy metals and PCB's in the soil. In 1994, EPA added this site to its list of priority hazardous waste sites, the National Priority List (NPL). EPA and the parties potentially responsible for the contamination removed the contaminated soil, hazardous liquid, solid waste, and asbestos, and then covered the area. When cleanup was completed, members of the newly formed Bemiss Neighborhood Council set out to decide how this property could serve the needs of the Spokane community. The site was deleted from the NPL in 1997. The Spokane Youth Sports Association headed a team to plan, fund, and build a multi‐use sports complex for area youth. Redevelopment was coordinated with EPA to ensure that the cleanup remained protective, in accordance with the institutional controls associated with the property. The sports complex, including a baseball field and soccer fields, was dedicated in 2001.
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Toftdahl Drum Site
New homes in Brush Prairie, Washington, have been built on the cleaned up Toftdahl Superfund site. In the early 1970s, the property owner cleaned drums for resale, and reportedly had drums of industrial waste delivered to his property. Unsalvageable drums were buried at the site, contaminating soil, surface water, and ground water with PCBs and heavy metals. In 1986, EPA added this site to its list of hazardous waste sites needing cleanup. EPA and the Washington State Department of Ecology investigated the site, removed all contaminated soils, and sent them to a federally-approved hazardous waste facility. After determining that the site was no longer a threat to human health and the environment, EPA deleted it from the list in 1988, making the property available for reuse. Since that time, developers have built eight single-family homes at the former waste site.
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Wyckoff-Eagle Harbor
The Wyckoff‐Eagle Harbor Superfund site is located on Bainbridge Island, in Puget Sound, Washington. For nearly a century, a wood treatment facility and a shipyard operated at the site, which led to contamination of sediments. EPA added this site to its list of priority hazardous waste sites, the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1987. After evaluating the contamination, EPA proposed separate cleanup plans for the East and West areas of Eagle Harbor. In 1994, EPA, working with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, obtained clean silt from a river dredging project, and placed a cap over the contaminated areas of the East Harbor. This sediment cap stopped the further release of toxins into Puget Sound and made the area safe for crabs, starfish, and other marine life. For the West Harbor cleanup, EPA worked with the state to dismantle on‐site buildings and remove polluted sediments from the harbor. The most polluted sediments were placed inside a partially submerged containment facility that was later paved to provide additional parking at the Washington State Ferries Maintenance Terminal. After contaminated sediments were removed, EPA and state officials lined the submerged portions of the containment facility with gravel to attract mussels and barnacles, and created a two‐acre estuarine habitat. The cleanup of the Wyckoff‐Eagle Harbor site has ensured that Puget Sound will continue to be one of the world's most beautiful estuaries, a rich fishing ground, and home to a great diversity of wildlife. The entire Wyckoff site was sold to the City of Bainbridge Island in three parcels between December 2004 and February 2006. The Bainbridge Island WWII Nikkei Exclusion Memorial Committee undertook the creation of a memorial on the site in honor of the Nikkei, who in 1942 were the first to be ordered from their homes and resettled in internment camps for the duration of World War II. The Memorial Committee has applied for National Historic Landmark status for the site. The Wyckoff Acquisition Task Force, a citizen committee formed to acquire the former Wyckoff Site for a public park, allocated approximately eight acres of the site for Memorial. The first of four phases of the estimated $3,000,000 Memorial construction was completed in 2006. The second phase of construction, including the walkways through the site and walls, is scheduled for completion in 2009.
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