Dirty fuel site faces cleanup

Contaminated soil on West Bay to be excavated this spring

JOHN DODGE THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- Cleanup of contaminated soil at a former bulk fuel storage plant on West Bay Drive is slated to begin early in the spring, state Department of Ecology officials said Wednesday.

About 310 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil is scheduled for removal from the West Bay Tank Farm site at 1117 West Bay Drive N.W.

The hillside property will then be backfilled with clean soil. Stormwater controls will be installed and the groundwater will be sampled every three months for a year to ensure the cleanup is complete, Ecology project manager Martha Maggi said.

Eventually, the 1.9-acre site could be home to professional office buildings, apartments or condominiums, according to the West Bay land-use plan.

Residents in the West Bay neighborhood are glad to see the site finally cleaned up, West Bay Neighborhood Association President Larry Leveen said.

The $100,000, voluntary cleanup is the responsibility of the Atlantic Richfield Co. and the John J. O'Connell Trust, owners of the two companies that stored fuel, heating oil and waste oil there from the 1950s until 1999, when Ecology ordered removal of the eight fuel tanks, ranging in capacity from 20,000 gallons to 156,000 gallons.

The contamination is the result of spills and possible tank leaks over the years. In October 1984, more than 4,000 gallons of waste oil spilled onto the ground and some of it reached nearby Budd Inlet.

Tests conducted in 2000 by the parties responsible for the cleanup documented the petroleum products in the soil and in one of five groundwater monitoring wells on the property.

"We don't think the contamination is flushing or leaking into Budd Inlet," Maggi said.

She said the soil excavation should be completed by May.

John Dodge covers the environment and energy for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5444 or by e-mail at jdodge@ olympia.gannett.com.

On the Web:

- Department of Ecology

For more South Sound stories go to the South Sound section.

To comment

The public can comment on the proposed cleanup plan for the West Bay Tank Farm site in Olympia by writing to Martha Maggi, Department of Ecology, Southwest Regional Office Toxics Cleanup Program, P.O. Box 47775, Olympia, WA 98504-7775. Deadline for comments is March 22.

The cleanup plan is available for review at Olympia Timberland Library, 313 Eighth Ave. S.E., Olympia.

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