Tacoma Smelter Plume: What's all the ruckus in north Tacoma and on Vashon Island?

By Jill Reitz, Cleanup Outreach Coordinator, Toxics Cleanup Program

That's the sound of soil cleanup...

Over the past few months, our work crews completed soil cleanup on 53 residential yards in Tacoma and on Vashon-Maury Island in the Yard Sampling and Cleanup Program (Yard Program). This is part of Ecology's ongoing work to clean up arsenic and lead contamination from the former Asarco smelter in Tacoma.

Ever wonder how soil cleanup works?

Good news! We recently finished a video (below) to show how soil cleanup works in the Yard Program. This three part video describes:

• The history of Tacoma Smelter Plume.
• How Ecology designs a yard cleanup plan.
• The steps of the cleanup process and lawn restoration.
• Responsibilities of the homeowner.

In 2015, we plan to increase the number of yards for the construction season to 100-plus. With an increase in yards, we anticipate we will get more questions from homeowners. We hope that this video will help answer questions for homeowners who are interested in learning more.

Follow our yard cleanup work...

• Ecology's website: Check out our webpage for updates on completed work.
• Sign up for email updates on our listserv.
• Follow our blog!

Questions about soil cleanup?

• Amy Hargrove, Cleanup Manager, 360-407-6262 or Amy.Hargrove@ecy.wa.gov
• Jill Reitz, Cleanup Outreach Coordinator, 360-407-6245 or Jill.Reitz@ecy.wa.gov