Duwamish cleanup spreads pollutants

But new data released this week show that although a large volume of pollutants was removed during a recent cleanup, the dredging spread enough contamination into surrounding areas that it's possible additional spots will have to be cleaned.

"The take-home message is that we need to do a cleanup right," said B.J. Cummings, coordinator for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, a non-profit group charged with representing community interest. "We need to do it right the first time, and we wisely need to use the public's money."

Before dredging started in November, Cummings argued that the method chosen -- scooping the tainted mud with a clamshell bucket -- would spread pollution. The results vindicated her position, she said.

Officials with King County admit that there was some initial sloppiness in the cleanup, which they say is primarily to blame for the spread of contamination. But overall they're calling the project "a major success" and maintain that the clamshell was the right tool for the job.

Hundreds of pounds of nasty pollutants were dug out of the bottom of the river, which runs through the heart of Seattle's industrial area. Included was 400 pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a family of long-lived chemicals that can disrupt hormone function and cause cancer.

"We had tremendous removal of PCBs," said Donald Theiler, director of the Wastewater Treatment Division for the county, which managed the cleanup. Yet, he admitted, "it could have been better."

About 8 pounds of PCBs -- representing about 2 percent of what was removed -- was scattered over relatively clean mud that surrounded the contaminated site. Out of 12 spots tested, nine are now at levels that would trigger cleanup under government standards.

"That is something we are continuing to be concerned about," said Lori Cohen, associate director for the Office of Environmental Cleanup with the Seattle office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mercury contamination decreased at all of the spots but one, and that measurement is being double-checked, Theiler said.

"Overall the project was a significant environmental improvement," Cohen said.

The Duwamish is a federal Superfund site polluted from decades of industrial activity. Nearly as soon as the cleanup of the 7-acre site got underway, Cummings complained to officials about sediment getting sloshed out of the clamshell bucket.

King County and EPA officials noticed there were problems as well. The county made the contractor, J.E. McAmis Industries of Chico, Calif., slow down the dredging. A county employee was assigned to supervise the cleanup.

A secretary with J.E. McAmis declined comment and referred calls to Miller Contracting Inc., based in Vancouver, B.C., the project's general contractor. Calls made yesterday to Miller Contracting were not returned.

The slowdown added six to eight weeks to the project, which lasted almost four months. The cleanup was expected to cost $10 million, which comes from a settlement of a lawsuit brought against the county and Seattle by the federal government. It's unclear whether there will be additional costs. Theiler said the county may try to negotiate a lower payment in light of the contamination.

The county will continue to monitor the site just south of Harbor Island. But because other spots in the river are much more polluted, there are no immediate plans to clean the spilled material. Theiler said they expect the levels of PCBs to decrease naturally over time, perhaps to an acceptable level.

Cummings, who wants a cleanup done immediately, said more work wouldn't be needed if crews had used the technology she had lobbied for originally: either a clamshell bucket that has a lid that swings shut or a hose that sucks up the mud.

"We wanted a cleanup without a new hotspot being created," Cummings said. "This is exactly what we were predicting."

P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or lisastiffler@seattlepi.com

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