Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Cleaning up Skykomish

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Ecology’s work to clean up historical contamination in the small King County town of Skykomish is getting a lot of media attention these days.

Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway Co. operated a railroad maintenance and fueling facility in Skykomish for decades. Historical activities at the site included refueling and maintaining locomotives and operating an electrical substation. These activities resulted in the release of petroleum and heavy metals to the surrounding environment.

For the past four years, Ecology and BNSF have worked to clean up the contamination. The work includes some heavy lifting – literally. Buildings have been moved and relocated so the contamination beneath them can be removed and replaced with clean material.

On Monday, the Seattle Times published this story on the project. And KOMO-TV followed up with its own report.

In May, Oregon Public Broadcasting offered this piece.

You can learn more about this project on Ecology's website.

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