Google developer goes beyond state standards in environmental cleanup at Kirkland site

After completing an environmental cleanup at a former industrial site, a Kirkland developer conducted a second cleanup to voluntarily surpass state cleanup standards.

The following is a release from Washington State Department of Ecology:

After completing an environmental cleanup at a former industrial site, a Kirkland developer conducted a second cleanup to voluntarily surpass state cleanup standards.

The site can come off the state’s list of contaminated sites, according to a Washington Department of Ecology proposal that also would withdraw a no-longer-needed court document.

Property developer SRMKII, LLC is building new offices for Google Inc. on the five-acre site at 451 7th Ave. S. The site formerly housed Pace National, a chemical mixing and packaging plant. SRMKII completed cleanup work in 2012, which brought the vacant site to state cleanup standards that protect public health and the environment.

The company then approached Ecology about conducting further cleanup to remove all detectable remaining contamination at the property, even small pockets of chemicals at concentrations safely below state cleanup levels.

SRMKII completed that work in late 2013. The company recently submitted a final report from groundwater monitoring that confirmed the second cleanup’s success.

The cleanups removed petroleum hydrocarbons, semi-volatile organic compounds, and chlorinated solvents from soil and groundwater. The first cleanup made the site ready for redevelopment. The second cleanup occurred as part of the excavation for the new building.

Ecology has proposed removal of the property from the statewide Hazardous Sites List and to dismiss the consent decree, filed in King County Superior Court, under which the first cleanup and the final monitoring were conducted. Ecology first signed the consent decree with a former owner, Ultra Corp., then added SRMKII when it purchased the site in 2013.

Ecology invites public comment through Jan. 4 before taking the proposed actions.

Send comments to Maura O’Brien, site manager, at Dept. of Ecology, 3190 160th Ave. SE, Bellevue WA 98008 or at Maura.Obrien@ecy.wa.gov.