COMMENCEMENT BAY, NEARSHORE/TIDEFLATS WASHINGTON EPA ID# WAD980726368

EPA Region 10 Pierce County Tacoma and Ruston 6th and 9th Congressional District Other Names: Asarco Tacoma Smelter, Ruston/North Tacoma Study Area, Tacoma Tar Pits, Tideflats Area

Last Update: February, 2007

Site Description

The Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats Site covers 12 square miles in Tacoma, Washington, and includes more than 300 active businesses and nearly 500 identified point and non-point sources of contamination. The site is divided into a number of separate Project Areas being managed as distinct sites. Construction is underway or completed at some of the Project Areas. These Project Areas include Asarco Tacoma Smelter, Ruston/North Tacoma Study Area, and Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats.

Project Area #1: Asarco Tacoma Smelter
Tacoma/Ruston, Pierce County, Washington

Asarco’s smelter property (or plant site) occupies about 67 acres. Prior to 1890, sawmills were active in the area and deposited wood waste along the shoreline. From 1890 through 1912, the property was used as a lead smelter and refinery. Asarco purchased the property in 1905 and converted it in 1912 into a facility to smelt and refine copper from copper-bearing ores and concentrates shipped in from other locations. By-products of the smelting operations were further refined to produce other marketable products, such as arsenic, sulfuric acid, liquid sulfur dioxide, and slag. Asarco ended operation of the smelter in 1985. Many of the smelter buildings and structures were constructed on slag fill. The shoreline was extended when molten slag from smelting operations was poured into Commencement Bay.

The 23-acre slag peninsula comprises different forms of slag (molten and granulated) that were poured or placed on many occasions since the 1940s. Its primary surface features are the Tacoma Yacht Club building, a paved access road, and paved parking areas. An estimated 15 million tons of slag exist at the smelter property and slag peninsula.

Project Area #2: Ruston/North Tacoma Study Area
Tacoma/Ruston, Pierce County, Washington

The Study Area, approximately 950 acres, comprises an arc of approximately one mile radius surrounding the Asarco Tacoma smelter and includes the town of Ruston and a northern portion of the city of Tacoma. The Study Area land is primarily residential and includes schools, playgrounds, and parks. The Study Area includes a population of approximately 4,290 and about 1,820 housing units.

Project Area #3: Tacoma Tar Pits
Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington

The Tacoma Tar Pits is an uplands component of the overall CB/NT Superfund site, situated within a peninsula of land between the Puyallup River and the Thea Foss Waterway, approximately three-quarters of a mile north of Interstate 5. The total area encompasses approximately 52 acres. From 1924 to 1956, a coal gasification plant operated on the site contaminating the soil with tars. In 1967, an auto recycler operated on the site contaminating the soil with acid, lead, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Project Area #4: Tideflats Areas
Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington

Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats (CB/NT) consists of 10-12 square miles of shallow water, shoreline and adjacent land, most of which is developed and industrialized. Marine sediments are contaminated from diverse industrial activities including shipbuilding, oil refining, chemical manufacturing and storage, and pulp and paper mills, dating from the turn of the century. EPA’s 1989 Record of Decision (ROD) set forth a cleanup plan which included control of upland sources, followed by sediment remediation by dredging and containment or capping, for eight contaminated sediment problem areas in the St. Paul, Sitcum, Hylebos, Thea Foss, Wheeler Osgood, and Middle Waterways. CB/NT was the first site in the nation to complete a partial delisting of clean areas from the NPL. The delisted areas comprise about 1,000 acres or 10-15% of the site. The partial delisting was completed on October 29, 1996.

Site Responsibility: This site is being addressed through federal, state, and potentially responsible parties' actions.

NPL Listing History	Dates
Proposed Date:	12/30/1982
Removed Date:
Withdrawal Date:
Final Date:	09/08/1983
Deleted Date:

Threats and Contaminants

Media Affected: Air, Groundwater, Soil & Sludges, Sediments, Surface Water

Project Area #1: Asarco Smelter - Metals including arsenic, cadmium, copper, and lead were released into the soils, air, and Commencement Bay as a result of the smelting and refining operations. Metals in slag or soil have migrated to surface and groundwater at the Project Area.

Project Area #2: Ruston/North Tacoma Study Area - Soils in the Study Area are contaminated with arsenic and lead that was released during the 100 years of operation of the Asarco Tacoma smelter (late 1800's to 1986).

Project Area #3: Tacoma Tar Pits - The site was formerly a coal gasification plant. The plant closed when natural gas was brought into the area, and later it was demolished. Tar-like contaminants and substances were left in the soil.

Project Area #4: Tideflats Areas - Shipbuilding, oil refining, chemical manufacturing and storage, and other industrial activities have caused hazardous waste contamination of the land and sediments in the Commencement Bay area.


Cleanup Progress

Note: A Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats Five-Year Review was completed on December 29, 2004, regarding all the Commencement Bay waterways and the Asarco Area sites.

PROJECT AREA #1 - ASARCO SMELTER:

Under an EPA Consent Decree, Asarco demolished the building on the smelter property in 1993 and 1994, and completed the Project Area investigation under an EPA Consent Order in 1995. EPA selected a remedy for the site in March 1995. The primary elements of the selected remedy are: (1) demolish the remaining buildings and structures; (2) excavate soil and granular slag from the five most contaminated source areas on the site; (3) disposal of excavated soils, granular slag and demolition debris in an on-site containment facility (OCF), which will meet the requirements for a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste landfill; (4) plug, abandon, or remove and replace the surface water drainage system; (5) cap the Project Area (smelter property and slag peninsula); (6) armor the shoreline of the plant site and slag peninsula against erosion; (7) continue monitoring impacts of Project Area cleanup on groundwater and off-shore marine sediments; and (8) integrate cleanup with future land use plans. Asarco began design of the remedy under a 1997 EPA Consent Decree, and remedial action began in 1998. Most of the cleanup work was planned for completion in 2003. However, cleanup has delayed as a result first of Asarco's limited funding availability and subsequent bankruptcy in 2005.

As of December 2005, The OCF has been constructed, all of the source area material has been placed into the OCF and it has been capped. The last buildings on the site were demolished, and most of the shoreline armoring has been completed.

As part of the sale of Asarco's assets in bankruptcy, the Asarco Smelter was sold to MC Construction in Spring 2006. Under a consent decree with EPA, the developer operating as Point Ruston will complete the remediation of the smelter, and slag peninsula, and cap the offshore sediments.

Sediments - Under an EPA Consent Order, Asarco has completed investigations of the offshore sediments. A pilot project to determine whether a thin-cap (e.g., 30-60 cm) will stay in place has been installed. A groundwater/sediments task force has characterized what impacts, if any, the discharge of groundwater could have to offshore sediments and the sediment cap. Conclusions from the task force suggest that a remedy for sediments will likely be successful in that recontamination by surface water and/or groundwater are not predicted to occur. Also, results from the pilot cap study strongly suggest the cap placement has been successful and will not erode away at an unacceptable rate.

A ROD for the sediments and groundwater cleanup was issued on July 14, 2000. The major elements of the plan call for dredging the contaminated sediments in the yacht basin (approximately 55,000 cu/yds) and placing them in an upland portion of the site, beneath an area-wide RCRA-type cap. Severely affected contaminated sediments in the nearshore/offshore areas will be covered with one meter of clean fill (an area of approximately 18 acres). For the groundwater, the main focus is to reduce water contact with the site contaminated soils. Much of that effort will be accomplished as a result of the work being done in accordance with the 1995 Smelter Cleanup decision. EPA began negotiations with Asarco in November 2000 for a Consent Decree to perform the sediment cleanup. Negotiations failed, and EPA issued a unilateral order to Asarco in March 2002. Asarco completed the Remedial Design under the order, but not the cleanup. The new owner of the Asarco Smelter placed the "soft" portion of the offshore cap in the fall of 2006. Additional capping with larger materials will be done in sections as the smelter is remediated. Point Ruston will also be excavating shallow sediments in the Yacht Basin. EPA is evaluating options for completing the excavation of the deep sediments in the basin.

Groundwater - The need for additional groundwater cleanup will be assessed during and after the implementation of the remedy.

PROJECT AREA #2 - RUSTON/NORTH TACOMA STUDY AREA:

Soil sampling for arsenic and lead is being performed at individual properties within the Study Area. Properties where soil exceeds 230 ppm arsenic and/or 500 ppm lead are undergoing a cleanup. The cleanup consists of the excavation and removal of contaminated soil (to a maximum depth of 18 inches), backfilling with clean soil, followed by the replacement of grass and other vegetation. Soils removed from yards are being taken to the Asarco Tacoma smelter property and stored on-site. These soils will be used to cap the smelter property as part of a separate action.

The Study Area was divided into four zones, and sampling and cleanup efforts are proceeding from the most to least contaminated zones. Sampling was initiated in 1993, and approximately 1,300 properties in zones 1-3 required cleanup, which was completed in 2004. Although cleanup in zone 4 has begun, sampling of properties in that zone has not yet been completed so it is impossible to predict at this time when cleanup in zone 4 will be finished. All work is being performed by Asarco under a 1995 Consent Decree with EPA. Since the Asarco bankruptcy, funding for the cleanup has come from an environmental trust set up by Asarco's current owner, Grupo Mexico.

PROJECT AREA #3 - TACOMA TAR PITS:

A five year review is planned for the site in late 2009.

A Record of Decision (ROD) was issued for the Tacoma Tar Pits site in December 1987. The selected remedy consisted primarily of excavation, stabilization and capping of contaminated soil, and groundwater monitoring to evaluate the need for groundwater extraction and treatment should cleanup goals not be achieved through implementation of the "initial" soil remedy. The initial remedy was completed in 1995 by the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) under an EPA Consent Decree. In 1998, groundwater monitoring data revealed the need for a groundwater extraction and treatment system at the Site. This system and treatment plant was completed by the PRP under the same Consent Decree in 2002.

Inspection and routine remedy maintenance follows the Inspection and Maintenance Manual (Ebasco 1995) for the components of the initial remedy. The manual calls for routine inspection of the following items: metals facility drainage system including Detention Basin No. 2, asphalt and concrete pavements, waste pile cover drainage and turf, and waste pile drainage system including Detention Basin No. 1. Inspection frequency generally occurs every six months for the waste pile cover drainage and turf, to annually for most other items. Also, the manual calls for routine inspection after heavy rainfall events, which do occur.

Post-remediation groundwater monitoring between March 2002 and the present was completed in accordance with the “Revised Water Quality Monitoring Program” approved by EPA in January 2002 (DOF 2002). Groundwater monitoring quarterly events usually occur during the months of March, June, September and December of each year.

Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the groundwater extraction and treatment system is conducted in accordance with an O&M Plan (Alta Geosciences 2003). Typical maintenance items for the pump and treat system include the following inspections and operational checks: 1) weekly monitor general plant operations and resupply biofouling treatment chemicals if needed, 2) monthly check meter functions and the need for replacement of vapor phase carbon, and 3) other system checks monitored remotely to verify the plant is operating properly.

In addition to the above O&M activities, the City of Tacoma reviews and renews the PRP's Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit every five years, and inspects and performs compliance sampling twice a year.

PROJECT AREA #4 - TIDEFLATS AREAS:

ST. PAUL WATERWAY - Releases from a pulp and paper mill caused sediment contamination in a 17 acre area of St. Paul Waterway, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-VOCs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The St. Paul Waterway cleanup and habitat restoration project was completed in 1988 by two PRPs under a Consent Decree with the Washington State Department of Ecology. The cleanup work was accepted by EPA in a 1991 Consent Decree. About 11 acres of marine sediments were capped with four to twenty feet of clean sand. An additional six acres of new intertidal habitat were built along the shoreline. More than 15 years of chemical and biological monitoring show that contaminated sediments have remained confined and isolated beneath the cap, and that the cap is providing good habitat for estuarine biota. All long-term monitoring efforts have been completed and all project objectives have been achieved. Additional monitoring efforts will only occur if there are major storm events or a significant earthquake. St. Paul Waterway was delisted from the NPL on October 29, 1996.

SITCUM WATERWAY - Sediments in the Sitcum Waterway (430,000 cubic yards) were contaminated mainly by metals from ore offloading operations in the marine terminal. Cleanup was completed in the Sitcum Waterway in 1994. The Port of Tacoma signed a Consent Decree with EPA which allowed the Port to combine the Sitcum cleanup with a Port development project. A total of 2.4 million cubic yards of sediments, half of which contained some chemical contamination, were dredged from the Sitcum and Blair Waterways during cleanup and maintenance dredging (the Blair Waterway contained some contaminated sediments but did not require cleanup under Superfund). Sediments were used to fill the nearby Milwaukee Waterway, creating 23 acres of container storage space for the Port. The agreement also included construction of 33 acres of new habitat in two mitigation sites. Sediments in Sitcum Waterway remain protective of human health and the environment, and the habitat mitigation sites are successful in providing high quality habitat for salmon and other species. The Blair Waterway was delisted from the NPL on October 29, 1996.

HYLEBOS WATERWAY - Sediments in the three-mile long industrialized Hylebos Waterway were contaminated with PCBs, PAHs, SVOCs, VOCs, wood waste, and metals such as zinc, copper, lead, and arsenic. Historic sources of contamination include chemical manufacturing plants, scrap metal recycling, log transfer facilities, and shipbuilding. The waterway has been administratively divided into the Head, Mouth, and Occidental Site to facilitate cleanup by three different performing parties.

Cleanup of the upper 1/3 (head) of the waterway has been conducted by the performing party group of Arkema Chemical and Schnitzer Steel (formerly General Metals) under a 2003 Unilateral Administrative Order converted to a Consent Decree in 2004. Approximately 400,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment was removed from the waterway 2004-06, and sent by train to a landfill in central Washington. Contaminated ground water at the Arkema site itself is being cleanup up under Ecology oversight.

The lower 2/3 (middle and mouth) of the waterway performing party group of Occidental Chemical Corporation and the Port of Tacoma dredged about 600,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment 2003-05 under a 2003 Unilateral Administrative Order converted to a Consent Decree in 2005. Much of the contaminated sediment dredged out of the lower 2/3 of Hylebos Waterway was placed into the Blair Slip 1 aquatic confined disposal facility.

Overall Mouth of Hylebos mechanical dredging was preceded, in 2002-03, by hydraulic dredging and on-site treatment of about 35,000 cubic yards of highly contaminated sediment at the former Occidental Chemical facility. The Occidental Site is currently undergoing further remedial investigation under joint EPA and Ecology oversight. Since 2005, over 90 borings beneath the waterway and an additional 42 upland borings have largely delineated the nature and extent of contaminated sediment and ground water. Occidental Site characterization is scheduled to be complete in 2007, at which point remedial alternatives to address soil, ground water, and sediment contamination (in both upland and waterway portions of the site) will be evaluated.

MIDDLE WATERWAY - Sediments in the Middle Waterway (111,500 cubic yards) were contaminated with copper, mercury, PAHs and other contaminants from ship repair, foundry, and woodworking operations. In April 1997, three PRPs signed a Consent Order to perform pre-design studies to support selection of a specific cleanup plan, and to complete the design of the selected remedy. EPA selected the final cleanup remedy in February 2002, and an enhanced cleanup remedy for the head of the waterway was selected in March 2003. Cleanup activities in the mouth and middle portions of the waterway (Areas A and B) began in July 2003, and were completed in February 2004. These activities included dredging with disposal in Blair Slip 1, thick layer capping, enhanced natural recovery and natural recovery. In the fall of 2004, the PRPs decided to do some additional dredging, enhanced natural recovery, and piling replacement, which will be completed by December 2004.

Cleanup work for the enhanced remedy at the head of the waterway began in August 2004 and was completed in September 2004. The cleanup consisted of the removal of approximately 3000 cubic yards of subsurface contaminated sediments with disposal at an upland landfill, and enhanced natural recovery to address low levels of surface contamination. Long-term monitoring will take place throughout Middle Waterway over the course of the next ten years to ensure that the remaining cleanup goals are met.

OLYMPIC VIEW RESOURCE AREA - Sediments in the Olympic View Resource Area (6,500 cubic yards) were contaminated with dioxins, PCBs, PAHs, and certain metals. In July 2001, EPA signed an Action Memorandum for a removal action over approximately 3 acres. The City of Tacoma developed a cleanup plan and design pursuant to a Consent Order with EPA. The cleanup project was completed in 2002. Approximately 600 wooden piles and 11,438 tons of contaminated sediment and debris were removed from the nearshore area and disposed of in an upland landfill. About 1 acre of sediments were capped with clean material. In 2003 through 2006, long-term monitoring efforts were completed, and results show that the sediment cleanup continues to be successful.

THEA FOSS AND WHEELER-OSGOOD WATERWAYS – Approximately 528,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment throughout the waterways, including metals (zinc, lead, mercury, cadmium, copper, nickel), high and low PAHs, phthalates, and PCBs.

The "Utilities" (Puget Sound Energy, PacifiCorp and Advance Ross Sub-Company) completed its cleanup of approximately 9 acres in February 2004, including dredging 3,500 cubic yards and disposing of it in an upland landfill; capping the remainder of the waterway and the surrounding banks; creating a scour protection berm in front of the City's two 96 inch outfall pipes; installing a sheetpile wall between the work areas for the Utilities and the City of Tacoma; and installing an impermeable cap over an area known as the SR-509 seep.

Subsequent Operations, Maintenance and Monitoring (OMMP) sampling indicated there were two areas of recontamination: (1) The northeast portion of the cleanup area adjacent to Foss Landing Marina was recontaminated by residual sediments released during the City of Tacoma's sediment cleanup project north of the sheetpile wall. The City capped the northeast corner of the Utilities cap in order to cover the contamination. Increased monitoring will be conducted in this area in order to ensure that these contaminants are sufficiently covered to be protective of aquatic organisms in the waterway. (2) There is BEHP and PAH recontamination from the City's stormwater outfalls that discharge into the head of the waterway. Elevated concentrations that did not exceed the cleanup numbers were identified in Year 1. In Year 2 OMMP sampling, these contaminants exceeded the cleanup standards. Additional sampling will be conducted in Spring 2007 to determine if these concentrations are stabilized or are continuing an upward trend.

The City of Tacoma (City) began work in November 2003 by constructing the St. Paul confined aquatic disposal site at the head of the St. Paul Waterway. The areas in front of the Tacoma Glass Museum and Alber's Mill were dredged and capped. In fall 2004, the City constructed marinas in this area to use while conducting cleanup at the four existing marinas on the waterway.

The City of Tacoma completed hydraulic dredging of the waterway in early November 2005, and final capping of the waterway was completed by February 2006. All of the habitat mitigation projects were completed by August 2006 as well. During this process the City missed several cleanup deadlines and the EPA fined the City $358,000 for missing the completion of the St. Paul CDF berm in December 2004.

PUYALLUP LAND SETTLEMENT - The Puyallup Land Claims Settlement Act of 1989 required cleanup of six properties within the CB/NT site prior to the transfer from the Port of Tacoma to the Puyallup Tribe. Six properties were investigated and cleaned up between 1990 and 1994. Cleanup activities, including soil removal and soil capping, were completed in 1995. Three properties and a portion of a fourth property were delisted from NPL on October 29, 1996.

SOURCE CONTROL - The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) is the lead agency for Source Control. Ecology has inspected hundreds of facilities in the tideflats, and has identified 70 facilities as ongoing sources of contamination. In 1992 Ecology and EPA agreed upon a strategic approach for source control which described how Ecology would conduct source control and established milestones for measuring source control progress around each waterway and problem area identified in EPA's 1989 Record of Decision (ROD). In June 2003, Ecology thought that sufficient source control work had been conducted for contaminated sediment removal to begin, without the likelihood of sediment recontamination occurring, and submitted the last milestone report under the 1992 strategy.

Outer Hylebos Mitigation Site - In 1993, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Port of Tacoma provided a habitat mitigation site on the northeast bank at the mouth of the Hylebos Waterway. Over the years, the Monitoring Reports have indicated that the site is not meeting the performance goals. In 2007, EPA is working with the Port of Tacoma to review the conditions of this site and modify the site so that the standards are achieved.


Regional Contacts

SITE MANAGER(S):	Jonathan Williams
E-MAIL ADDRESS:	williams.jonathan@epa.gov 206-553-1369
PHONE NUMBER:	Jonathan Williams (Hylebos Waterway--Head; Mouth; Occidental Site) Kevin Rochlin (Asarco Smelter; Offshore Sediments, Ruston/N.Tacoma Residential Area) rochlin.kevin@epa.gov 206-553-2106 Tamara Langton (Tacoma Tar Pits) langton.tamara@epa.gov 206-553-2709 Howard Orlean (Asarco Sediments) orlean.howard@epa.gov 206-553-2851 Piper Peterson Lee (Wheeler-Osgood) peterson-lee.piper@epa.gov 206-553-4951 Kira Lynch (Thea Foss) lynch.kira@epa.gov 206-553-2144 Kris Flint (Source Control) flint.kris@epa.gov 206-553-8155 Nancy Harney (Middle Waterway) harney.nancy@epa.gov 206-553-6635 Karen Keeley (St. Paul; Sitcum; Olympic View Resource Area) keeley.karen@epa.gov 206-553-2141
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT COORDINATOR:	Jeanne O'dell
E-MAIL ADDRESS	odell.jeanne@epa.gov
PHONE NUMBER:	206-553-6919 Charles Bert bert.charles@epa.gov 360-753-8073

Information pertaining to this site is housed at the following location(s):

Tacoma Public Library (Administrative Record)
1102 Tacoma Avenue South
Tacoma, WA 98402

Citizens for a Healthy Bay (Selected Documents)
917 Pacific Avenue, Suite 406
Tacoma, WA 98402

ASARCO Information Center (Selected Documents)
5311 North Commercial
Ruston, WA 98388

EPA Region 10 Superfund Records Center (Administrative Record)
1200 Sixth Avenue, ECL-076
Seattle, WA 98101