Doe Seeking Comment Department Wants Public Input On Industrial Site Cleanup

The Washington State Department of Ecology is seeking public comment on how to clean up the North Market Street industrial site.

The North Market Street feasibility study contains information collected during two phases of investigation of the site. It was prepared on behalf of Chevron Pipeline Co., Phillips Petroleum Co. and Tosco Refining Co.

The first phase of investigation in 1993 found that groundwater in the Spokane Valley Aquifer beneath the site held unsafe levels of petroleum-based products.

Dissolved gasoline, diesel and heavy oil hydrocarbons were found in ground water at concentrations up to 63 parts per million. The Washington State cleanup requirement is one part per million.

“This means the site has contaminated the aquifer well above cleanup standards,” said William Fees, an engineer with the Department of Ecology. “It’s a big problem and we’re trying to get the message across that this site warrants more attention.”

Two years later, the second phase of the investigation found petroleum product throughout the soil at the site, down to about 160 feet below the surface. Petroleum chemicals were found in ground water extending one mile from the aquifer.

Gasoline and diesel hydrocarbons were found as high as 8 and 13 parts per million in ground water samples.

Fees explained that the small improvement was due to natural processes like the movement of the aquifer.

“But it’s still very contaminated,” he said. “There is petroleum in raw form in some wells still today.”

In the late 1930s, properties at the North Market Street site were part of an oil refinery complex. At its height, the complex churned out approximately 314,832 gallons of refined petroleum products a day. Waste management practices at the time were not as stringent as they are today and much liquid waste was released into the environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency placed the site on the federal Superfund National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites in 1990.

Though refinery operations ceased in 1953, the Tosco Spokane Terminal continues to function as a petroleum fuels storage and distribution center, supplying the Spokane area with refined products such as gasoline.

Because of the North Market Street site’s industrial location, people may tend to think it has little effect on the public. But Fees says that’s not true.

“It’s not like there’s glowing ick next to houses or playgrounds, but the site has contaminated the sole-source aquifer,” he said.

Members of the Department of Ecology hope to draft a Cleanup Action Plan for the site in late October, which may contain cleanup ideas gleaned from the feasibility study. Public comments are welcome through Oct. 3.

“We’d like to know if people care about this,” Fees said. “We want their input into what happens out there.” FEASIBILITY STUDY The North Market Street feasibility study can be found at the Department of Ecology Eastern Regional Office, 4601 N. Monroe, Suite 202, and at the Hillyard Branch of the Spokane Public Library, 4005 N. Cook St. Direct written comments to William J. Fees, Department of Ecology Toxics Cleanup Program, 4601 N. Monroe, Suite 202, Spokane, WA 99205-1295. Deadline is Oct. 3.