[CPEO-BIF] Glacier Northwest property, Duwamish Waterway, Seattle, Washington

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Washington State Department of Ecology
News Release
June 18, 2009


Ecology, Glacier Northwest and Reichhold reach cleanup agreement

BELLEVUE - The current owner and a former occupant of the Glacier 
Northwest property along the Duwamish Waterway in Seattle have signed an 
agreement with the Department of Ecology (Ecology) to test soil, 
groundwater, surface water and adjacent sediments for contamination at 
the site as the first step toward its long-term cleanup.

Ecology invites the public to review and comment on the accord - called 
an Agreed Order - and an accompanying public participation plan.

The 18-acre area - located at 5900 West Marginal Way SW - belongs to 
Glacier Northwest, Inc. (Glacier), which operates a cement storage and 
distribution facility. Reichhold Inc. formerly manufactured chemicals, 
including plywood resin glues and industrial pesticides, at the site. 
Earlier occupants of the property conducted other industrial activities.

Glacier and Reichhold are parties to the Agreed Order with Ecology, and 
have conducted investigations and some cleanup work at the site. Those 
studies have found metals and phenols, including pentachlorophenol, in 
soil; pentachlorophenol and arsenic in groundwater; dioxins in sediment; 
and arsenic in surface water seeps.

The Agreed Order outlines a series of steps to continue investigations 
into the extent of the site's contamination, including reviews of the 
earlier studies. The order also sets up a process for evaluating cleanup 
options and developing a draft cleanup plan. All of 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 and Public Participation Plan for the 
Glacier-Reichhold site will be available at:

    * 
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/glacierNW_LDWW/glacierNW_LDWW_hp.html
    * South Park Branch-Seattle Public Library, 8604 8th Ave S (at S 
Cloverdale St.)
    * Ecology's Bellevue office, 3190 160th Ave. SE, by appointment 
only: 425-649-7190

Comments on the order and plan should be sent by July 20, 2009, to Donna 
Ortiz, Ecology site manager, at: • 3190 160th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 
98008 • dort461@ecy.wa.gov

For more background on the Glacier-Reichhold site, please see Ecology's 
fact sheet on line at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0909178.html

To learn more about the overall Lower Duwamish Waterway cleanup, please 
see 
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/lower_duwamish/lower_duwamish_hp.html 


###

Media Contacts: Larry Altose, Ecology media relations, 425-649-7009; 
pager 206-663-1785
Donna Ortiz, Ecology site manager, 425-649-7231

For more information: Glacier Northwest 
site:http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/glacierNW_LDWW/glacierNW_LDWW_hp.html 


Lower Duwamish cleanup site: 
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/lower_duwamish/lower_duwamish_hp.html 





For the original news release, go to
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2009news/2009-146.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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