State, Firm Still At Odds Over Restrictions On Property Next To Greenacres Landfill

The recent installation of a $4 million landfill cap hasn’t quelled wrangling over the former Greenacres Landfill site south of Interstate 90.

The state Department of Ecology is now battling with the Liberty Lake Land Co., which owns and hopes to develop property just north of the landfill.

The agency wants Liberty Lake Land Co. to agree to a list of restrictions and requirements for a couple of acres of nearby land containing contaminated groundwater.

The company believes the requirements are excessive, not scientifically-based, and would scare off would-be tenants for its proposed 235-acre industrial park, said F.J. Dullanty, an attorney representing Liberty Lake Land Co. It has refused to comply, so last week the state agency issued an enforcement order.

The order allows Ecology to fine Liberty Lake Land Co. up to $25,000 per day of noncompliance, and charge triple costs if it has to do the required work itself.

The order is expected to go into effect in late January, after a 30-day public comment period.

“It’s unfortunate it’s gotten to this point,” said Bill Fees, an environmental engineer with the Department of Ecology. “We’ve been talking about this for nearly two years.”

The former Greenacres Landfill has been a controversial site for years. It was used for dumping from the late 1940s until 1972. Spokane County was its most recent operator.

In 1978, groundwater testing found contamination of a nearby residential well. Subsequent testing found organic compounds, metals and gases moving offsite and possibly threatening groundwater supplies.

The landfill was named a federal Superfund site in 1984.

Ecology ordered the county to cap it. The county argued for years that capping was an excessive option, considering the extent of the pollution risk. It finally gave in and agreed to the project.

The landfill site is now owned by the county, although it once belonged to the Liberty Lake Land Co. Contamination has spread outside of the landfill’s boundaries, ecology officials said, and now affects property Liberty Lake Land Co. hopes to develop into the Liberty Lake Corporate Park. The industrial park sits south of Interstate 90 near the Liberty Lake exit.

Among other things, Ecology’s proposed restrictions on the contaminated land would require regular groundwater testing and notification of would-be tenants and buyers. They also would prohibit anything that could interfere with the cleanup.

Dullanty called the requirements “Draconian.”

Liberty Lake Land Co. hired its own scientist to measure the extent of groundwater pollution outside the actual landfill site. That study found that the contaminated area is actually much smaller than the state contends, Dullanty said.

He said the company is willing to negotiate scaled-back requirements for the smaller area.

Ecology officials say that’s not possible: Scaling back the restrictions would threaten human health and the environment.

For now, the two sides are deadlocked.

Ecology will wait for the public comment period to expire. And Liberty Lake Land Company will look at its legal options.

After spending $4 million for infrastructure for the proposed industrial park, the company plans to do everything possible to prevent a “dampening effect” on locating businesses there, Dullanty said.

“My clients,” he said, “don’t roll over when you say roll over.”

CARE TO COMMENT? Public comment on the enforcement order issued to the Liberty Lake Land Company will be taken through Jan. 22. Copies of the order can be viewed at the Valley Library, 12004 E. Main, or at the Department of Ecology’s Eastern Regional Office, 4601 N. Monroe, Suite 202. Comments should be mailed to: Bill Fees, Department of Ecology, Toxics Cleanup Program, 4601 N. Monroe, Suite 202, Spokane, WA 99205. Fees also is available to answer questions by phone at 625-5190.