Study Finds No Improvement In Polluted Commencement Bay New Research By National Marine Fisheries Service Finds Sediment Still Dangerously Toxic

Bottom-fish still show high levels of liver tumors and reproductive abnormalities. Young salmon still show immune system damage and stunted growth. Great blue heron eggs still frequently fail to hatch.

Likewise, echoing research findings of 15 years ago, toxic pollution in the sediment beneath Commencement Bay remains dangerously high.

Those are the highlights of a National Marine Fisheries Service study on pollution that could have potent economic consequences for businesses around the city’s harbor, a national Superfund pollution cleanup site.

“In a nutshell, things have not improved to any degree where it’s discernible,” said Tracy Collier, chief of the agency’s eco-toxicology branch in Seattle, which conducted the research.

The findings, formally being released this week, should come as no surprise to residents who have been warned for years to avoid eating seafood from the heavily industrialized area. Warnings in several languages have been posted by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

Instead, the significance is in the process of deciding on what cleanup work to do and how much to spend.

“It’s sort of like a red flag,” said Allison Hiltner, who oversees that work for the Environmental Protection Agency. “People may think Commencement Bay is a whole lot cleaner than it used to be, but what these studies are telling us is that fish are very sensitive to these chemicals and injuries to wildlife are going on right now.”

Bill Sullivan, environmental director for the Puyallup Indians, said the contamination has hamstrung tribal efforts to restore fish runs.

“I know that we’re putting millions of salmon into the system each year, and our return rates are so abysmal it’s frightening,” Sullivan said.

He said the study should justify the most intense cleanup effort possible.

“We believe that Commencement Bay doesn’t have to be an industrial sacrifice zone,” Sullivan said.

EPA is considering a proposal to relax cleanup standards for polychlorinated biphenyls, cancer-causing chemicals known as PCBs.

The Commencement Bay Natural Resource Trustees, consisting of state, federal and tribal officials who sponsored the latest study, said saving money in the short run might mean more spending in the long haul if so much pollution remains that another cleanup is needed.

“The concern I have is that (cleanup) may go forward in a way that leaves a lot of work to do,” said Robert Taylor, a federal attorney representing the trustees.

Once the group estimates how much damage has been done to fish, birds and other wildlife, those responsible for the contamination must pay both for the cleanup and for the wildlife losses. The latter payment goes to restore wildlife habitat.

The latest research was focused on Hylebos Waterway, the longest and most contaminated passage in the tideflats. The former estuary of Hylebos Creek is now a channel lined with chemical plants, boatyards, sawmills, log yards, an oil refinery and an aluminum smelter.