Around the Sound: Gearing up for cleanup in Everett's East Waterway

Ecology natural resource scientist John Evered digs for shellfish along Everett's East Waterway.

Cleaning up a large-scale contaminated site can be a complex, expensive process.

Sometimes, though, the work starts on a very small scale.

So that's why a group Ecology staff members, consultants and others recently grabbed some shovels and buckets to start digging along East Waterway, part of Everett's Port Gardner Bay.

Littleneck clams are common in and around East Waterway.

They looked for the types and abundance of shellfish -- clams, oysters, mussels -- at some of the waterway's isolated beaches where someone could harvest the bivalves. They dug up and replaced about 275 shellfish in total.

Andy Kallus, who oversees Ecology's cleanup sites around Port Gardner Bay, said the recent dig turned up wood waste in the waterway's sediments. Wood waste smothers organisms in the sediments.

"A lot of the sediment was very black, which is indicative of a lack of oxygen," he said.

The work is just a preliminary step on a long path that will eventually lead to the environmental cleanup of East Waterway.

An industrial history

An aerial view in the 1930s.

Decades of industrial activities have contaminated land and in-water sediments in and around the waterway. It's one of 11 Port Gardner Bay sites targeted for cleanup under the Puget Sound Initiative.

Since the early 1900s, East Waterway has been used for industrial activities -- primarily for shipping and processing timber, pulp and alumina; deep-water shipping operations by the Port of Everett; and U.S. Navy activities. 

A number of environmental investigations beginning in the 1980s found marine sediments contaminated with metals, various chemicals and organic compounds, and high levels of wood waste.

Working with partners

Ecology signed a legal agreement called an agreed order with the Port of Everett, Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to study and identify hazardous substances in the waterway. This includes upland sources that could potentially release contaminants into the water.

The Navy's Everett shipyard is shown in the 1940s.

The port has owned and operated industrial sites along the waterway for decades. DNR manages and leases state-owned aquatic lands. Kimberly-Clark and its predecessors operated a large pulp-and-paper mill along the waterway for decades, before closing the mill in 2012. 

Ecology is talking with the Navy about a separate legal agreement for potential cleanup. During and after World War II, the Navy used the waterway as a shipyard. An active Navy homeport now operates in East Waterway.

What's next

Kallus said he is working with the port, Kimberly-Clark and DNR to put together a plan for collecting environmental data. That investigation will show the type and extent of contamination in the waterway, as well as potential contamination that could reach the water from nearby upland sources.

Ecology will ask the public to comment on the investigation and collected data, plus possible options for cleaning up the waterway and controlling upland sources.

A harbor seal enjoys the sunshine while resting on the rafting logs near a Navy vessel in East Waterway.

 By Seth Preston, communications manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Is Puget Sound healthy? Join us May 10 to find out!

By: Jessie Payne, Environmental Assessment communications manager

A big question has been on everyone's mind lately: 

Is Puget Sound healthy? 

This may seem like a simple question, but talk to our scientists, and you'll hear that the answer can be quite complicated. The answer depends on the situation and what aspect of health you're interested in. 

Today in Ecology's podcast, we sit down with our Scientific Environmental Modeling Engineer Mindy Roberts to discuss this question and learn about a talk she'll give tomorrow evening in Tacoma for the Pacific Science Center Science Café. 

Join Mindy at the Science Café event

Describing the health of Puget Sound is as complicated as describing your own personal health. At the Science Cafe, Mindy will dive into some of the latest water quality findings and discuss ways that everyone can help improve the health of Puget Sound.

Join Mindy in Tacoma to learn about some of the latest science we have on Puget Sound. Bring friends who want to understand the different ways we measure its health.

What?	Pacific Science Center Tacoma Science Café “Is Puget Sound Healthy?”
When?	Tuesday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Where?	The Swiss Restaurant & Pub 1904 Jefferson Avenue, Tacoma

Science Cafés are open to all ages. No science background is required, and no question is too basic. Learn more about the Pacific Science Center Science Café event.

Puget Sound science at Ecology

Scientists at Ecology collect, research, and provide credible data to guide our agency's environmental choices for Washington. They work to help us track our environmental health, and to ensure the actions we've taken are working. Learn about our Puget Sound science.

Around the Sound: Reaching out in Everett

By Darrah Johnson, education & outreach specialist, Toxics Cleanup Program

Darrah and Andy in Everett (photo by Andrea Matzke).

We have a lot of cleanup activity coming up in Everett’s Port Gardner Bay, so the Toxics Cleanup Program wants to make sure local residents have plenty of opportunities to find out what’s going on.

On Saturday, March 21, baywide cleanup coordinator Andy Kallus and I talked with kids, parents and community members about our Puget Sound Initiative work in Everett. The SnoCo Together Community Skills Fair, a free event at Evergreen Middle School, was hosted by Transition Port Gardner, Futurewise, WSU Extension, the city of Everett, and Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides.

The event’s goal was to inform the public about the 11 Puget Sound Initiative sites around Everett’s Port Garden Bay. Specifically, the goal was to reach out to populations that may not be adequately engaged with traditional outreach strategies.

Cleanup on Everett's waterfront

Ecology identified Port Gardner Bay as a high-priority bay under the Puget Sound Initiative. An Ecology team works with the Port of Everett, other site owners, area tribes, and other stakeholders to help shape cleanups at waterfront-area cleanup sites.

Dredging at Everett Shipyard in December 2014.

We may have up to eight public comment periods in the next several months for various steps in our cleanup process. (Stay tuned as those take shape.)

On Saturday, Andy and I talked with between 30 and 40 people who expressed varying levels of interest. Some were able to find their houses on the baywide map displayed, had personal connections to the industrial companies formerly operating at the sites, or wanted a closer look at some of the historical images in our slideshow.

And 'The Galloping Gourmet', too!

As a fun bonus, the keynote presenter was Graham Kerr, best known as the star of “The Galloping Gourmet.” His speech emphasized the need for greater social awareness and engagement to protect the environment.

His most recent trilogy of books compares the life cycle of the Chinook salmon to his own life, and more broadly to the human condition and the current state of the environment. It is titled “Flash of Silver,” referencing the shimmer made by a fish that has overcome an obstacle.

As one in the school overcomes an obstacle, the others see their own glimmer of hope and know that there’s a way to get to where they need to be. The metaphor applies to current issues of climate change and source control.

In addition to Kerr, the event also featured booths, workshops and a variety of youth performances.  

Around the Sound: Custom work earns kudos

By Seth Preston, communications manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

The stunning transformation of a toxic old mill site in Anacortes is getting some well-deserved attention, and not just from community members.

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Washington recently presented a "Best in State" Gold Award for the Custom Plywood mill cleanup to consulting firm Hart Crowser and our Anacortes/Fidalgo Bay team in the Toxics Cleanup Program. The award was in the Social/Economic Sustainability category.

Ecology team members were (from left to right) Arianne Fernandez, Pete Adolphson, Hun Seak Park, and Sandra Caldwell.

Custom Plywood is one of several sites in the Anacortes area  that is being cleaned up under the Puget Sound Initiative.

From toxic to terrific

The Custom Plywood site in July 2013 ...

The mill site had been used for heavy industry since the late 1800s. After a 1992 fire destroyed the closed mill, broken concrete and twisted rebar littered the site. Soil contained heavy metals and petroleum products. 

Groundwater beneath the site was contaminated. Dioxins and wood debris smothered marine sediments. Old pilings coated with toxic creosote and the remains of old structures slowly deteriorated in the bay. 

In 2011, TCP led a cleanup of the site's 6 uplands acres. Contractors removed pilings and structures from the land, and dug up about 33,600 tons of contaminated soil. They brought in about 39,000 tons of clean soil to rebuild the land.

... and in May 2014.

In 2013, cleanup focused on the shore and in-water issues. About 1,450 old pilings and 7,000 tons of fired-damaged structures and materials over the water were removed. About 8 acres of in-water sediment contaminated with dioxins and wood debris were dug up.

Fidalgo Bay was connected to a wetland area created in 2011. A jetty was extended and a new spit was added to prevent waves from eroding the shoreline. And the shoreline was almost tripled in length.

Environment, economy, community

Custom Plywood is another example of how cleanup work can benefit the environment, the economy and the community. Cleanup puts people to work, which provides for an immediate economic benefit because construction crews spend money in the local area. Cleanup clears the way for future economic activity.

Cleanup improves and protects the environment, which also protects the health of local residents. And communities benefit from economic opportunities and an improved quality of life.

Around the Sound: New video highlights Port Gamble cleanup

By Seth Preston, communications manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

This video from the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission focuses on the restoration work that Ecology and the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe did recently in and around Port Gamble Bay.

The old Point Julia pier has been removed.

It's a great example of the work we are doing under the Puget Sound Initiative. Thanks to the Legislature, we were able to contract with the tribe to remove the old, deteriorating Point Julia pier, as well as in-water and on-shore debris. That debris includes things like rotting boat hulls and abandoned nets.

The unused Port Julia pier was made up of wood pilings treated with creosote. Creosote is an effective substance -- it's designed to protect whatever you use it on. So it kills bugs that may damage the pilings ... along with other marine organisms nearby. It's an indiscriminate killer.

That's the problem. While creosote-treated structures slowly rot, creosote leaches into the surrounding environment, and poisons organisms living there. And the problem is amplified because such structures take a long time to deteriorate.

In addition to the video, you can check out more images in this Flickr album.

Cleanup coming

A historical view of the former Pope and Talbot mill.

We're not just doing restoration work -- we're working with Pope Resources to clean up historical pollution in and around the bay caused by the former Pope and Talbot mill. That work will begin in July 2015. Local tribes and Pope Resources are working to resolve any permitting questions before the cleanup starts.

Stay tuned!

Around the Sound: A hot streak for some cool work

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

The work our Toxics Cleanup Program team is doing on the former Custom Plywood mill site on Fidalgo Bay in Anacortes is getting a lot of attention recently.

First, the Skagit Valley Herald published an in-depth look at the environmental cleanup of this key Puget Sound Initiative site on a bay that is important for protecting, restoring and maintaining the Sound's health. That was on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Jan Hersey sent us this great shot.

Then last week someone sent us a great photo (at right) of a rainbow with the Custom Plywood site in the foreground. See how we showed the contrast between the site now and how it looked in 2011 in this previous "Around the Sound" post.

And go here to Flickr to check out our photos that show off the great work our people coordinated and helped fund.

Now this video -- made by the Friends of Skagit Beaches and an independent filmmaker using an Ecology public participation grant -- is live online.

Citizen groups and not-for-profit public interest organizations use the grants to encourage people to get involved in the investigation and cleanup of contaminated sites.

Stay tuned -- we have much more great things to share about our cleanup work in and around Puget Sound. Watch for it!

---

Tackling Toxics: Is your roof shedding chemicals into our lakes, rivers and Puget Sound?

By Alli Kingfisher, Building Materials and Sustainability Specialist, Waste 2 Resources Program

Ecology scientists Kyle Graunke and Tom Gries collect runoff samples while Ecology Director Maia Bellon looks on.

Here at Ecology, we often talk about non-point pollution that contaminates our waterways.

This is the kind of pollution that is often invisible. It comes from lots people doing lots of things on the land, and from lots of different places. It’s oil from leaking cars, fertilizer and pesticides from our yards, and dog poop from our beloved pets.