Firm To Haul Mine Waste From Forest Tons Of Arsenic-Laced Dust Dumped In Western Washington

Nobody is sure where it came from, but Atlantic Richfield Co. has agreed to haul hundreds of tons of hazardous mining dust out of a national forest in Washington state and test for potential environmental damage.

Between 300 and 500 tons of the dust and soil is being removed as early as this week from the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, about four miles west of Skykomish, Wash., Forest Service officials said Wednesday.

Apparently deposited there eight to 10 years ago, as much as 24 percent of the dust has been shown to be arsenic, forest spokesman Ron DeHart said. About 5.5 percent is lead, 4.5 percent copper and 1 percent zinc, he said.

Dumping of materials can be a problem at most so-called “urban national forests” like the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, an hour’s drive northeast of Seattle, DeHart said.

“We get garbage, autos, bodies. You name it. But we don’t too often run across one like this,” he said. “We didn’t know what it was until a year ago.”

Officials now believe it is mining flue dust - a fine particulate byproduct of smelting which is captured in a sort of filter or scrubber before smoke goes up the smokestack.

Arco officials say it could have come from the Anaconda Superfund site the company now is responsible for in Anaconda, Mont. They are spending more than $250,000 on the removal, treatment and eventual storage at a facility in Arlington, Ore.

“We are unsure of the source of the material. We have a suspicion it might have come from the Anaconda smelter,” Arco spokeswoman Sandy Stash said.

The dust may have been sent to the operator of a local mine on the site - the Cashman Mill - who was developing a technology to remove arsenic from the dust, Stash said.

“Part of the problem is poor record-keeping on behalf of our predecessors. It bears a resemblance to flue dust we have taken care of in Anaconda, Mont., which is why we are stepping up to the plate and taking care of the problem. It is a fairly simple problem,” Stash said.

More typically at Anaconda, the flue dust is mixed with cement and concrete and stored in a vault.

“That’s how we will be dealing with it in Arlington, Ore.,” she said.

There has been no apparent damage to any water and it’s not clear how much soil was contaminated near where Money Creek meets the South Fork Skykomish River, DeHart said.

The dust pile is covered, “though inadequately to reliably prevent leaching and/or erosion,” Forest Service supervisor Denns Bschor said in a memo Aug. 11.

The cleanup agreement with Arco involves the Agriculture Department, parent of the Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Washington.

Removal of the dust will alleviate any immediate risk to humans or animals, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said. He said it marked the first time the USDA had entered into this kind of agreement, which in the past have been handled only by the EPA and Coast Guard.

Rain could delay the cleanup, but removal was scheduled to begin on Thursday with six to eight trucks each hauling 20 to 25 tons a day for up to two weeks.