New cleanup agreement could finally restore Moss Bay site

The State Department of Ecology (WSDOE) and toxics cleanup engineers began cleaning up a former industrial site in Kirkland March 25, beginning a process that could resolve decades of work to remove contaminants from the soil.

April 2, 2009 8:22 pm
Sound Environment Strategies engineer Don Harden demonstrates the viscosity of the zero-valent iron slurry that was injected at the old Pace National Corporation site. They hope the substance will help decontaminate the soil of Vinyl Chloride.
Sound Environment Strategies engineer Don Harden demonstrates the viscosity of the zero-valent iron slurry that was injected at the old Pace National Corporation site. They hope the substance will help decontaminate the soil of Vinyl Chloride.

The State Department of Ecology (WSDOE) and toxics cleanup engineers began cleaning up a former industrial site in Kirkland March 25, beginning a process that could resolve decades of work to remove contaminants from the soil.

The Seventh Avenue South property, formerly the site of the Pace National Corporation, is an empty five-acre lot wedged between the BNSF rail corridor and several residential neighborhoods about half a mile south of downtown Kirkland. Pace used the site to manufacture specialty industrial strength cleaning products, but during 20 years of production a number of chemicals were spilled or seeped into the ground.

Overseeing the toxics cleanup program work, WSDOE Hydrologist Maura O’Brien was monitoring the work on-site as engineers from Sound Environmental Strategies bored holes into the ground.

“We’re excited to see this happen,” she said. “The current owner (of the property) is interested to put this property back into use for the City of Kirkland and its residents.”

In December 2008, the site’s owner, ULTRA Corporation owner Max Gurvitch and WSDOE entered into a voluntary agreement to finish the cleanup work.

The holes are part of pilot test to break down the main contamininant on the site, vinyl chloride. The method, called zero valent iron injection (ZVI), involves forcing the non-toxic substance into the soil up to 18 feet below grade so it will react with the contminant to create carbon dioxide and inert solids.

Sound Environmental Principal John Funderburk estimated the testing will cost ULTRA up to $60,000. If the pilot test is sucessful, the cleanup is estimated to cost up to $240,000.

“We believe we’ve removed the source of (the vinyl chloride),” he said.

Funderburk said the pilot test method was the same as the $30 million cleanup effort at the Barbee Mill site in Renton, near the Seattle Seahawks’ new training facility.

After a substantial cleanup of the property in 2005 an 2006, costing an estimated $1.5 million, further groundwater contamination was detected at the Pace site. State officials are still conducting a “remedial investigation” to identify all the contamination. The investigation and a cleanup plan is expected to be review for public comment by September.

Under an agreed order with WSDOE, ULTRA is next expected to submit a clean-up plan proposal to erradicate the groundwater contamination. If all goes according to plan, ULTRA could earn a “letter of no further action” from WSDOE, absolving them of all further responsibility for environmental cleanup of the site.