Arkema Inc cleanup site, Tacoma

We would like your input on three documents:

• Draft Interim Action Plan (download 17.1 MB): A plan for limiting arsenic from entering the Hylebos Waterway. This work is neeeded to protect human health and the environment while the Port works on a complete cleanup plan.
• Draft Agreed Order Amendment (download 151 KB): This is an addition to the 2011 legal agreement that powers the site’s cleanup. This agreement is between Ecology and the Port of Tacoma, who is doing the cleanup. The amendment adds the Interim Action Work Plan and its schedule to the Port’s scope of cleanup requirements.
• SEPA Determination of Non-Significance (download 537 KB): We determined the proposed cleanup is not likely to cause significant environmental harm. We considered environmental, historical, and cultural factors in this process.

To aid in your review, we also prepared a fact sheet (download 1.16 MB) that provides context about the site and summarizes the key points of the documents listed above. You can also read more on our Arkema Inc site webpage.

No final decisions have been made yet. This public comment period is your opportunity to learn more and share your input. Another comment period will happen before the next phase of cleanup.

Background

This site used to be a chemical manufacturing plant, in the past called Atofina Chemicals, Elf Atochem, and Pennwalt. The products that were manufactured at the site included chlorine, sodium hydroxide (caustic), sodium chlorate, hydrochloric acid, and sodium arsenite (Penite). Penite was made between about 1944 and the early 1970s. The remaining chlorine-based manufacturing facility operations operated from 1927 to 1997, when the manufacturing facilities were dismantled and removed.

The Port of Tacoma bought the property in 2007. In 2008, the Port removed all remaining aboveground structures.

Today, the site is vacant. It is currently covered with vegetation, crushed rock, and some former building/tank foundations. The Port plans to redevelop the site for industrial and marine-related uses.