Cleanup Plan Proposed for Lora Lake Area Sites (USA)

Cleanup Plan Proposed for Lora Lake Area Sites

The Port of Seattle would remove or contain contaminated soil and sediment on port property at the former Lora Lake Apartments in Burien and nearby at Sea-Tac Airport in SeaTac under a proposed legal agreement with the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology).

The port plans to begin cleanup work in 2016, divided into three projects that include these actions:

Former apartment complex: Remove highly contaminated soil for disposal, place a cap (such as pavement) over less-contaminated areas and place a deed restriction to protect the cap and limit future use of the property to commercial activities;

Lora Lake: Fill a man-made lake left from a former peat mine with clean soil to contain contaminated sediment, while re-establishing a former wetland that will protect water quality in Des Moines Creek;

Dredged material containment area: Use pavement or gravel to cover contaminated sediment deposited from a past dredging of Lora Lake, with a deed restriction to maintain this cover.

Ecology seeks public comment through Nov. 25, 2013 on the proposal and related documents:

– The agreement, called a consent decree, to be filed in King County Superior Court;

– A cleanup action plan, to be filed as part of the consent decree;

– A report, called a remedial investigation/feasibility study, on the port’s study of the contamination and potential cleanup strategies;

– An updated public participation plan for the cleanup actions;

– An environmental review, called a mitigated determination of non-significance, conducted by Ecology under the State Environmental Policy Act.

[mappress]

Press Release, October 22, 2013