Crews Start Burning Tainted Soil In Hillyard Despite Health Assurances From Scapca, Neighbors Are Fuming

Neighbors are fuming as crews today begin burning 20,000 tons of contaminated soil behind a Hillyard warehouse and office building.

Contamination was discovered in 1992 while crews were excavating for a new URM warehouse. Years ago, the land at 7511 N. Freya was occupied by National Pole and Treatment, where railroad timbers were soaked in creosote ponds.

Diana Linn was a kindergarten teacher at Arlington Elementary School two years ago when she protested the proposed burning. She’s still opposed.

“I was concerned then about respiratory problems and I still am,” she said. “My kids would be waiting for the (school) bus just a few blocks from the smokestack,” she said.

“That creosote is bad stuff, it will make you real sick,” said Karen Graebner, who owns B&K Hubcaps with her husband, Bill. “If no one else is allowed to burn, why can they?”

The burning plan was approved by the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority in August.

SCAPCA engineers say the burning poses little health risk.

Their reviews show levels comply with state toxic pollutant rules, and potential health impacts are minor.

The soil is loaded on one end of the wormlike incinerator, moved on conveyor belts, tumbled in superheated drums, then spewed out the other end, clean and ready to reuse.

Temperatures inside the incinerator top 1,600 degrees. The soil is cooled to about 186 degrees as it leaves the incinerator.

Steam from the cooling process billows out of one smokestack. Particulates, barely visible, rise from the other.

In the process, 99 percent of the volatile gases are destroyed, said engineers.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” said Larry Johnson, project manager for Dust Coating, the company in Maple Plain, Minn., that provides the incinerators.

Johnson said residents aren’t likely to hear or smell anything during the incineration.

Operators are only allowed to process a specified amount of soil each day and have to shut down during bad air periods. They’re also required to close temporarily after seven days of operations while tests are done to make certain emissions are within the accepted range.

Johnson said it could take up to two months to clean the mountain of contaminated dirt.

East Francis resident Jeannie Greene, who lives less than a mile from the property, said she feels frustrated by the public comment process two years ago.

“There were a lot of people discouraged, they feel they aren’t heard when they speak out, said Greene.

“I have to have my car checked for emissions, I’m not allowed to burn in my back yard,” said Greene. “I can tell you I would much rather have the smell of burning leaves.” , DataTimes