TEST: Environmental group looks for second 'smoking gun' at Hamilton Road site
By Brian Mittge, The Chronicle, 2/1/2001
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The search for a second source of toxic contamination near Hamilton Road south of Chehalis continues, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency widens the circle of test wells in the area.
Technicians from Ecology Environment Inc., under contract with the EPA, are drilling a series of test wells on the east side of Interstate 5 this week, expanding the area under investigation.
Until now. the test wells have been located west of the freeway.
These new wells, EPA officials hope, will help pinpoint the location of what appears to be a second source of the cancer-causing chemical perchloroethylene in the shallow aquifer underneath the area.
The Hamilton-Labree Road area is a federal Superfund site, and has one of the highest PCE levels of any contaminated site in the state.
A residential well in the area registered 3,740 parts per billion of PCE, the highest level ever recorded in Washing-
ton.
The safe drinking water standard is 5 parts per billion.
In August of 1999, EPA-contracted excavators uncovered more than 60 barrels of toxic goo from the former site of S.C. Breen Construction Inc., but this source alone does not explain the two distinct "plumes" discovered within the area's shallow aquifer.
One plume is near the Breen dump site, but the other is far enough southeast that investigators are looking for a second contamination source.
Investigators from the Seattle EPA office hope that individuals with leads, rumors or information about past toxic dumpings will contact the agency.
"We can maintain people's confidentiality," said EPA Civil Investigator Grechen Schmidt. "The information is the most important. If there's a source out there, please tell us so we can remove it and keep it from further contaminating the ground water.
"We're concerned about the information, not the source of the information," she added.
The EPA's Seattle office may be reached at 1-800-424-4372. Schmidt's extension is 2587. 000
Brian Mittge covers local government for The Chronicle. He may be reached by e-mail at bmittge@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8237.
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