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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

EPA has cleanup plan for Duwamish River

Seattle waterway project expected to take 17 years

A fisherman readies a cast into the Lower Duwamish River in view of container ships moored at the Port of Seattle’s seaport just south of downtown. (Associated Press)
Phuong Le Associated Press

SEATTLE – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a $342 million cleanup plan to remove decades of contamination from Seattle’s only river, a major industrial corridor that was listed as a Superfund site in 2001.

The agency said the plan will make it cleaner for people along the Lower Duwamish River to live, play and eat fish from its waters, while still allowing industry to thrive. It’s estimated to take 17 years, including seven years of active cleanup work and a decade of natural recovery, to remove long-lasting PCBs, arsenic and other toxins that have riddled the waterway over the past century.

“This is a momentous day in the history of the Duwamish River,” EPA regional administrator Dennis McLerran said Tuesday. “This sets a very clear plan going forward.”

McLerran said he hoped to see enough improvements after seven years that people would be able to consume more fish and shellfish from the Duwamish River with fewer public-health restrictions. State health officials currently warn against eating resident fish such as sole, as well as crab and other shellfish from the Duwamish because of the contamination.

The Duwamish, once a meandering river before it was straightened and deepened into a heavily-used navigation channel, runs through Seattle’s industrial core and residential neighborhoods before emptying into Elliott Bay.

The river is home to tribal members and others who rely on the river’s fish and shellfish for food and their livelihood. It is also a vital lifeline for dozens of businesses, including tug companies, ship builders, manufacturing plants and cargo vessels, and supports 100,000 jobs with an economic input of $13.5 billion.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said BJ Cummings, policy adviser with the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition. But “there are additional things that need to be done to protect people’s health both more quickly and in the long term.”

Her group and others had pushed for more contaminated soil to be dredged. She said she was pleased the EPA included 21 additional acres of dredging compared to its previous proposal.

The EPA said its cleanup plan will remove 90 percent of pollution in the river through a combination of dredging, capping, and letting sediment from upriver naturally bury the toxic material. About 960,000 cubic yards of sediment will be dredged and disposed of in a landfill.

The Lower Duwamish Waterway Group, which includes King County, the city of Seattle, the Port of Seattle and Boeing Co., had pushed for less dredging than what EPA proposed. It has supported more targeted dredging and greater use of other cleanup technologies that focused more on natural recovery.

Those four entities are among the potential parties required to pay for the cleanup. They have already spent more than $100 million to clean up some of the most contaminated parts of the river.