Thursday, October 30, 2003
By Brian Mittge bmittge@chronline.com , The Chronicle
FOREST - Underground, chemical contamination continues to trickle through a shallow aquifer in this rural crossroads south of Chehalis.
Above ground, more than $650,000 is also flowing this autumn as a result of toxic contamination decades ago at the Lewis County Central Shop along Jackson Highway and Forest-Napavine Road.
The Washington Department of Ecology has agreed to give Lewis County another $448,484 to finish up cleanup, continue monitoring the area, and to potentially connect more households with wells near the contamination to city water in the future.
In the past few years the state has already given $1.2 million to the county for testing and cleanup of the contamination. In total, the Department of Ecology has given Lewis County $1.6 million to deal with the contamination.
The state money comes from a tax on gasoline and petroleum waste.
Lewis County has to pay $299,000 for its share of the remediation costs.
The county is the only "potentially liable party" identified by the state, but the county has not officially taken the blame for the contamination.
County Commissioner Richard Graham said chemical handling methods have come a long way since the 1960s and '70s.
A truck washing station at the central shop is suspected as the cause of the contamination.
"In the old days, old motor oil, if you had a gravel yard you flung it around to hold the dust down," Graham said. "They decided that can cause problems, so as these things pop up now they have to be rectified." A 1985 Ecology inspection found the county was incorrectly handling hazardous waste at the site.
In 1998, routine water testing revealed the presence of industrial solvents in the ground water at the Lewis County Central Shop.
Later testing found traces of tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene in several wells nearby. These chemicals can cause cancer over long periods of time.
Contaminated dirt was removed last year. No more dirt work will be done, said Lewis County General Administration Director Larry Keeton.
"What they thought might have been the source, they're not sure, was removed. Now all to be done is wait till water is at a level where it's safe," Keeton said.
Sandy Howard, a spokesperson with the DOE, said the grant funds the final segment of cleanup and monitoring efforts.
"Right now we're getting close to the final chapter on this cleanup site," Howard said.
The state helps local governments pay for cleanup, but the same funding would not be available if a private company had caused the contamination, she said.
The new grant money will help pay for future well monitoring. Officials believe the plume of contamination will disperse into the aquifer, gradually diluting.
In addition, $350,000 of the grant will be set aside to pay for a new pumping station for the Chehalis water system, in case more residents in the Forest area need to be put on city water. There are no immediate plans to build the pumping pressure station, but the money is there just in case, Keeton said.
So far, no other neighbors of the shop have wells with contamination at a level allowing them to hook onto city water.
In a separate but related matter, Lewis County agreed on Sept. 5 to pay neighbor Fred Teitzel $227,350 to settle lawsuits over toxic contamination of Teitzel's well.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Doug Ruth said Teitzel agreed to dismiss all claims against the county, now and in the future. Teitzel was the only neighbor whose well had contamination above the official level of concern. The county will not use the state grant to pay for the settlement.
Teitzel has already been connected to an extension of the Chehalis city water line. The county will continue to pay his water bill. Teitzel, who lives just east and north of the county shop, said his family has lived on the property since 1903, but declined to comment on the settlement.
"It's all done with," he said.
Brian Mittge covers politics, the environment and Lewis County government for The Chronicle. He may be reached by e-mail at bmittge@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8237.
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