Cleaning Up: Shelton’s C Street Landfill now on Hazardous Sites List

By Natalie Graves, public involvement coordinator, Toxics Cleanup Program

As proposed plans for the Shelton Hills Development in the city of Shelton move ahead, community members expressed increased interest in an Ecology cleanup site, called the C Street Landfill. The site is at one end of the proposed development, outside of the development limits.

The landfill, like many inactive landfills across Washington, has not been used for waste disposal for decades. We don’t fully know the nature of the waste placed there, so it’s important to have thorough, fact-based information about the site. The site will be studied and cleaned up under the state’s Model Toxics Control Act, or MTCA.

Ranking the site

A key step in the state cleanup process is called a Site Hazard Assessment (SHA). The SHA is a preliminary evaluation of a site. Its purpose is to look into potential risk and assign priority for site cleanup. After an SHA, Ecology ranks the site with a score of 1 to 5, with 1 representing the highest level of potential risk. Ecology recently completed the SHA for the C Street Landfill and ranked it as a 3 on the Hazardous Sites List.

Ecology uses a ranking method to make sure that sites are ranked relative to each other. Some factors that enter into a SHA ranking are:

• The amount and type of contaminants present.
• Site characteristics.
• How easily contaminants come into contact with people and the environment.

Next Steps

Ecology will name the potentially liable person (PLP) responsible for cleaning up the site. This will most likely be the City of Shelton, since the city owns the property. Ecology and the PLP will work together to draft an agreement to do:

• A remedial investigation, which looks at the nature and extent of contamination.
• A feasibility study, which weighs cleanup options.

The public will be able to review and comment on future agreements and draft cleanup plans. Read more about the cleanup process.

Stay informed and weigh in

Public involvement is a key part of the cleanup process. We value keeping the public informed of major milestones and updates about cleanup sites. As site updates and cleanup plans become available, we will work with the Shelton community, stakeholders, and local media to provide information on the site.

The best way to make sure you are informed is joining our mailing lists. Contact Public Involvement Coordinator Natalie Graves at Natalie.Graves@ecy.wa.gov or 360-407-0067.

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