At a press conference today, October 13, with Mayor Anne Blair, Community Engagement Specialist Kellie Stickney, and Public Works Director Barry Loveless, City Manager Doug Schulze announced that the site to the north of City Hall, which is the subject of this November’s Proposition 1, is “highly contaminated.” The contamination stems from the dry cleaning business that formerly operated at the site and consists of tetrachloroethene (PCE), a chlorinated dry cleaning solvent.
Schulze said that the City knew about the contamination of the site where a new police station will be built if Proposition 1 passes this election, saying it was “public knowledge” and that it “came up as a known issue in discussion with the property owners.” The property is managed by Landmark Management LLC. But the results of a recent (September 9) exploration that were released on Friday reveal that the contamination is worse than previously known and, in the words of Stickney, “may also have impacts on groundwater and air quality on and surrounding the property.”
The City pursued the September Phase II study in anticipation of purchasing the property for the police station, which will require extensive earthwork. This recent study conducted by Environmental Associates, Inc. consisted of a total of 20 soil samples collected from deep borings of about 20 feet and shallow borings of about 10 feet. The surveyors were not able to collect enough groundwater to determine if it too is contaminated.
PCE was detected in 11 of the samples in concentrations exceeding the Washington Department of Ecology target compliance level of 0.05 parts per million and ranging between 0.054 and 0.35 ppm. A soil vapor sample contained PCE at a concentration of 58,000 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which is well above WDOE’s vapor intrusion risk screening level of 321.
The property owner did not allow examination of the building’s interior during this latest study.
The World Health Organization reports that “acute accidental inhalation of unmeasured (but presumably high) concentrations of tetrachloroethene has induced CNS depression, dizziness, fatigue, loss of coordination, coma, reversible liver damage, and some deaths.” WHO also reports that PCE is “clearly carcinogenic in laboratory animals.”
Mayor Blair was informed last Tuesday about the problem right before the Council meeting. In Executive Session, the full Council was then informed. Blair said, “We have new information that we didn’t have before. There was clear consensus by the Council that the community needs to know this.” She added, “It’s the health of our citizens, the land of our city. We are probably the most appropriate agency to deal with this.” She emphasized that “There are two sorts of things going on,” referring to Proposition 1 and the contamination. She said, “We have to look at them as separate issues.”
Schulze said, “There was no intent to hide this issue from public. It was public information that a Phase I report had been done. Unfortunately, Phase I didn’t provide the level of detail of Phase II.” He said, “We knew there would need to be some cleanup. However, because of the intensity of contamination, we really feel that this is something that needs to be taken care of right away.” He cited “soil, groundwater impacts, and vapor concerns for properties within 100 feet of the former dry cleaning business, including City Hall.”
The building on the site has vapor contamination. Current occupants could be at risk, Schulze said. The City has already communicated this information to the owners. Stickney said she was sending a communication to the homeowner’s association of the nearby mobile home park today.
The cleanup will require excavation and removal of soils to a hazardous waste facility. The cost of the cleanup, Schulze and Blair stressed, will be borne by “anyone who had previous financial interest in the property” and may also be covered by state and federal grants.
Schulze added, “The City has a responsibility to make sure the site gets cleaned rapidly, and the City is best situated to make sure that happens, more so than a private owner.” He said the City intends to pursue acquisition of the site. “Even if the bond doesn’t pass,” he said, “we will consider buying the property to take responsibility for it.” He said, “This is something that can’t sit and wait for another five, ten, fifteen years.”
Schulze sketched out a timetable for the cleanup. Over the next couple of months, he said, they will work with the property owner. Then they will work with Ecology. By mid-2016 he hopes they will start the cleanup.
During a Phase I Environmental Assessment of the site in 2000, the dry cleaning business was identified as a “recognized environmental condition.” It was followed by a preliminary Phase II assessment that discovered PCE in shallow soil near a Dumpster behind the business and beneath the dry cleaner’s boiler room in concentrations between 0.30 and 0.32 parts per million, slightly below the then-target compliance level of 0.50 ppm.
In 2009, a second Phase I assessment was conducted. During this assessment, the contamination was determined to have exceeded the Washington Department of Ecology target compliance level because WDOE had lowered that level in 2001 to 0.05 parts per million. The 2009 study was a shallow soil study like the first one. The report issued following the study suggested to the property owner that a hollow-stem auger might facilitate deeper exploration, and it cautioned that groundwater had still not been assessed for contaminants.
At the conclusion of the press conference today, Schulze said, “It’s never good news that we have contaminated soil or groundwater, but the fact is that we have a plan for use of the property, and excavation of material is part of the plan. This is an opportunity to get the site cleaned up as part of an existing plan.”
He added, “I don’t see it as much of a setback as it might otherwise have been.”
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Photo by Sarah Lane.
