Cleanup starts next year on contaminated sites in Edmonds

The owner of a former fuel terminal near the Edmonds waterfront will clean up the site’s last two contaminated areas next year under a work plan being reviewed by the state Department of Ecology.

The bulk fuel terminal was operated from 1923 to 1991 by Unocal, now a subsidiary of Chevron Corp. Cleanup work on a related problem, the former tank farm on a nearby hill overlooking Puget Sound, has been completed. The tanks were demolished and the soil beneath them excavated and tested to ensure they were free of petroleum contaminants, said David South, the Department of Ecology’s site manager. The Point Edwards condominiums were built on the site.

The cleanup plan now being reviewed by the state agency involves a nearby lower work yard where fuel was loaded onto trucks, he said. An asphalt plant also operated was on the site. The area is adjacent to Edmonds Marsh.

A public meeting on the cleanup plan is scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Edmonds Library. There will be a half hour overview of the proposed clean up plan before opening the meeting to questions.

“I’ll talk about what’s been done and what’s left to be done,” South said. Chevron Environmental Management Co. will do the cleanup work, he said.

Cleanup of the lower work yard began in 2001 “to get the worst of it out,” he said. That included excavation of the soil. Contaminated soil nearest the creek was removed.

Two areas haven’t been excavated. They are near a storm water detention basin and a state Department of Transportation storm drain. The work will involve removing diesel and heavy oil contaminants such as benzene from the soil, he said. “It apparently hasn’t gotten off-site,” he said. Ground water monitoring wells have been installed and sampling has been conducted twice a year, South said.

Next summer’s cleanup plan calls for workers to remove petroleum-contaminated soil from the half-acre detention basin area and replace it with clean soil. That work is expected to take about four months.

A treatment system to remove contaminates from groundwater and petroleum vapors in the soil also will be installed. This contaminant-removal system would operate for up to six years, according to the proposed cleanup plan. Groundwater from the area discharges into Willow Creek, which runs through the Edmonds Marsh and into Puget Sound.

Chevron has been working cooperatively with the Ecology Department on what steps are needed for the site to comply with the state’s environmental requirements, said Marielle Boortz, a Chevron spokeswoman. “There’s been a lot of work done in the past,” she said. “Most of the site is defined as clean. There’s just two remaining areas.”

The company doesn’t publicly disclose cleanup costs, she said. “The more important thing is doing the cleanup.”

Once contaminants are removed, Chevron has a purchase and sale agreement with the Washington State Ferries, South said.

The agreement was part of the former Edmonds Crossing project to relocate the Edmonds ferry terminal, he said. That project was scuttled during the recession.

The city of Edmonds is now working with the ferry system, the Port of Edmonds, and BNSF railway on a plan to help alleviate traffic backups caused when rail traffic blocks access to the waterfront area including the ferry terminal.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.

A community meeting and open house is scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Plaza Room of the Edmonds Library, 650 Main St. The meeting will discuss plans for the cleanup of two remaining contaminated areas at a former fuel terminal near the Edmonds waterfront. Email comments also may be submitted through Aug. 31 at David.South@ecy.wa.gov. A history of the site is available at www.unocaledmonds.info.