By Ruth Levine The Chronicle, 5/23/97
Darrell Peterson, the new owner of the former American Crossarm and Conduit Co., a Superfund cleanup site, is waiting to construct his first building. In addition to filing an-environmental checklist with the city of Chehalis, Peterson submitted a permit application on March 10 to place 27,000 cubic yards of fill on top of the clay cap that seals the property. The fill will meet the elevation of the city's flood plain ordinance and give Peterson room to put in utilities and foundations without breaking the clay cap, said Bob Nacht, Chehalis community development manager.
The Development Review Committee, made up of city staff, reviewed the application and found it incomplete. It asked for a detailed site plan showing stormwater management and erosion control methods and a hauling plan.
Nacht said it is not unusual for developers to have incomplete applications on the first go around. Four appeals have been lodged against the city's decision that the fill project would not have "a significant adverse environmental impact." No work will be done until the appeals are decided. Peterson's first tenant, a machine shop, has bought equipment and has no place to put it, Peterson said.
Peterson bought the property for $17,671 at a Lewis County foreclosure sale in February. "When we were bidding, another hundred or two hundred people did not open their mouth to say anything," said Peterson, the sole bidder. "Nobody else wanted it, and now that I got it, everyone is complaining."
Peterson and Larry Morris, an environmental engineer who also serves as Peterson's agent, met with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Ecology last week. They submitted civil engineering plans for the filling of the first 200 feet of the property.
They want to construct an access road out of dirt and gavel, and fill as they go, they said. Also on the table for discussion was a lien worth the value of $15 million filed against the site by the EPA. The lien acts more as a tool to hold property owners accountable than as a serious endeavor to collect on the cleanup costs, said Richard Mednick, EPA associate regional counsel.
Peterson hopes the EPA will lift the lien in the next two weeks.
"They are going to give us their blessing," he said.
Preston Sleeger, acting regional environmental officer with the Department of the Interior, said his agency has not had a relationship with the EPA in regard to the superfund cleanup site for a while. The department acts as a national resource trustee for migrating birds, threatened or endangered species, and salmon, as well as tribal rights.
The department could file a damage lawsuit if these natural resources were to be harmed from contaminants, although it is rare, he said. Other agencies are also involved with the site.
DOE Project Manager Michael Ruef said his agency is responsible for the operations and maintenance of the site, including biannual testing of the surface and ground water for contaminants.
The DOE's role is to continue working with the developer to make sure the cap is not jeopardized and there are no remaining contaminants, Ruef said.
He is not a proponent of filling in the flood plain, although he said fill on one particular site would not make much of a difference.
It's up to the local government to decide if they can tolerate additional flooding.
"I don't think it is a good idea," he said.
Until the DOE accepts full responsibility for the site, the EPA will remain the head agency of the superfund cleanup site, said Lee Marshall, EPA remedial project manager.
"Whatever happens to the site is up to the local community," he said.
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