Kaiser, Ecology reach cleanup agreement

Kaiser Aluminum and the state Department of Ecology have reached a deal calling on the company to clean up dangerous industrial pollutants from the Trentwood rolling mill.

The agreement is considered a major step to finally get a fix on the polychlorinated biphenyls (commonly known as PCBs), diesel fuel, oils and metals from the massive Spokane Valley factory.

Kaiser has sunk 100 testing wells on its 525-acre Trentwood site to track several plumes of PCB-tainted pollution that have spread into soils and groundwater that is part of the region’s aquifer. Handling Trentwood and addressing dangerous pollutants threatening public water sources has been a priority for Ecology.

In terms of pollution significance, Ecology spokeswoman Jani Gilbert said, “This makes BN(SF) look like a tablespoon of Kool-Aid.”

BNSF Railway has been under scrutiny for its leaky refueling depot north of Post Falls. Sitting atop the aquifer that supplies drinking water to the region, the depot’s leaks have been a major new concern after railroad assurances that its containment apparatus was flawless.

The Trentwood plant, though, has been a polluter since the federal government built it in 1942 to make aluminum for World War II aircraft. Kaiser began leasing the plant after the war in 1946, later buying it along with the now-shuttered Mead smelter.

PCBs were detected at the Trentwood site many years ago. Initially, two separate plumes of petroleum were detected in groundwater. To curb the spread of the contamination, Kaiser built a pump-and-treat system in 1994 and continues to check its progress with its battery of monitoring wells.

Then a new pollution area containing high amounts of PCBs was detected last year.

Since it was not part of a petroleum plume, the PCBs could not be pumped and treated.

The fear, Gilbert said, is that PCBs could migrate to the Spokane River, further polluting a waterway already considered polluted. Residents are warned against eating fish caught in the river.

PCBs have been banned in the United States since 1977 and are a suspected human carcinogen, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

They were used as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment because they don’t burn and were good insulators.

Besides the PCBs detected underground, Kaiser also continues to flush waste into the river – some of it containing PCBs – through a pipe, Gilbert said.

The company has a state permit allowing the practice, she said, although Ecology and the company are negotiating a separate plan to reduce and perhaps one day eliminate this point-source of pollution under a broader, multiparty agreement.

In a news release, Ecology toxic-cleanup manger Flora Goldstein said the agreement regarding the underground pollution requires Kaiser to conduct a formal study of the contamination and then come up with cleanup plans.