Green Sanctuary Program
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Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship
Green Sanctuary Program |
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July 23, 2010 by Kie Relyea - THE Bellingham Herald http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/07/23/1537797/epa-plans-to-start-cleanup-of.html BELLINGHAM - Polluted soil and sediment from Little Squalicum Creek will be dug up, moved nearby to The Oeser Co. property and covered under a $1.5 million cleanup that the Environmental Protection Agency expects to start in August. The plan includes possibly setting aside the existing upper part of the creek - upstream from the Marine Drive Bridge - as backup storage for the contaminated material, according to the EPA. "Oeser may not have room for it all. If they don't, we would have the upper reaches of the creek," said Howard Orlean, Superfund project manager with the EPA. The creek has been contaminated by past wood-treatment chemicals from Oeser, which is expected to pay for the cleanup. EPA said that other sources contribute pollution to Little Squalicum Creek, but its focus is on Oeser-related contamination. The roughly mile-long creek flows through 21-acre Little Squalicum Park, located near Marine Drive, and into Bellingham Bay. It's fed by local springs and also serves as stormwater drainage. The cleanup would affect five acres at the community park, which is popular with dog walkers, runners, birders and bicyclists. The EPA hopes to start the actual cleanup on Aug. 18, although the federal agency is still finalizing details such as access agreements. But crews will be at the park within the next two weeks for preliminary brush clearing and soil sampling. The cleanup is expected to take six weeks. During it, the main trail through the park will be closed and beach access will be affected. EPA's plan also involves rerouting the upper reach of the creek into its historical channel just southeast of where it is now. This is the section that will be set aside as a possible repository if all of the contaminated materials to be dug up - about 10,000 cubic yards - don't fit onto Oeser's property. "It's a doable plan and we're pleased to do all we can to implement it," said Chris Secrist, president of The Oeser Co. Crews are expected to dig one foot to six feet to remove contaminated materials. The material taken to Oeser then will be covered with six inches of clean gravel, according to EPA. If the upper reach of the creek is used as backup storage, then clean fill will be put into the dug up area to raise the channel above the 100-year floodplain, the contaminated material placed on top, then covered with an eight-inch layer of gravel and two feet of clean topsoil. Then it would be seeded and mulched. The proposal to remove contamination from the park is more acceptable to Bellingham officials than EPA's previous preferred alternative, which called for leaving it at the park. "That's definitely better news. It's good news," said Gina Gobo Austin, project engineer for Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department. "We do want that material to be taken offsite, taken to Oeser, be controlled and not in the park. And then that maintenance becomes Oeser's and not the public's." In March, the City Council and Mayor Dan Pike came out against the EPA's preferred cleanup alternative, saying it didn't do enough to protect the public and would severely limit the city's ability to develop the surrounding park. It was one of five proposals that carried preliminary cost estimates ranging from $1.1 million to $7.4 million. The EPA's preference at that time called for digging up the contaminated material, then placing it in the middle, and deeper, section of the creek. A new creek channel would be created and the clean soil dug up to do so would be used as part of a cap for the contaminated material in the middle section. In addition to calling for the removal of contaminated material, city officials said the earlier proposal to relocate the creek channel and reroute water sources would leave much of the park wet. The current rerouting of the creek proposed by EPA will allow the city to develop the park, city officials said. Oeser manufactures and treats wood poles for utility companies throughout the nation. The EPA already has forced Oeser to clean up pollution on its property at 730 Marine Drive, which had been labeled a Superfund site under federal law. Oeser has completed the cleanup on its property, and the contaminated material from that project has been capped there. Contaminants of concern at Little Squalicum Creek include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins and furans, all of which pose a cancer risk. While City Councilman Jack Weiss said removing contaminated material from the park was better news, he also expressed concern that measures taken to contain the polluted soil and sediment are adequate. "I'm hoping that whatever the eventual and permanent location of the contaminated material, that it will have a suitable cap," Weiss said. |
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