By Mai Ling Slaughter, The Chronicle, 8/7/99
Using radar and a magnetic detector, cleanup consultants found three drums Thursday containing what appears to be oil beneath a Chehalis business that may be linked to one of the state's worst cases of groundwater contamination.
In January, the state Department of Ecology designated S. C. Breen Construction Inc. as a potentially liable party in perchloroethylene contamination in southern Chehalis.
Perchloroethylene, a common solvent, was found in the groundwater near the construction company's former property at 151 LaBree Road, where Bulldog Trailer Manufacturing now lies.
In the 1980s, drums were said to have ''disappeared'' during the same weekend someone excavated a pit and filled it. Since then, Bulldog was built over the alleged dump site.
Ecology and Breen Construction signed an agreed order to excavate the property on July 21.
''We found three drums containing water and what appears to be oil,'' said Bill Halbert, a senior hydrogeologist with consulting company GeoEngineers Inc.
GeoEngineers, contracted by Breen Construction, took samples of the water and the oil for analysis.
''At this time, in my opinion, it doesn't appear to be PCE,'' Halbert said. ''It appears to be used motor oil and there may have been a total of 5 to 10 gallons of oil contained in the drums.''
Results should be available Monday afternoon, Halbert said.
GeoEngineers used a magnetic detector and a ground-penetrating radar to find the three drums.
''We looked beneath building,'' he added, ''and also the area all around the building.''
Halbert said no other anomalies were detected.
''Once we get the analysis of what was in the drums,'' Halbert said, ''we'll coordinate a full removal of the drums, the contents of the drums and the area of contaminated soil that seems to have oil in it around the drums.
''Those will all be disposed of properly.''
Workers stopped excavating when the drums were found to extract the liquids before removing them from the soil.
However, Halbert said, by a visual assessment, 10 to 15 gallons of the liquid had leaked into the soil.
The contaminated soil was ''quickly scooped up by the backhoe,'' Halbert said, and placed on protective plastic.
Direct contact with PCE can cause dizziness, nerve and liver damage, and cancer.
The federal safe drinking water standard for PCE is 5 parts per billion. But in 1997, authorities found contamination at 3,740 parts per billion from well water serving a family home across the road. This was the highest level ever found in drinking water in the state.
Ecology spokeswoman Sandy Howard said the next step is a full public process to review and comment on the order.
''It's important to emphasize that there's no additional threat to groundwater or drinking water,'' she added.
Ecology representatives met with area residents - many of whom depend on wells that use the groundwater - July 21 to notify them of the agreed order.
''The Breens have been very cooperative,'' Howard added. ''They're doing everything they can and they're accepting liability for the cleanup.
''It's on their property, but it doesn't really mean it's something they're responsible for. It could just be something they've inherited.''
Harv Breen, with Breen Construction, was not immediately available for comment Friday.
Mai Ling Slaughter can be reached by e-mail at news@chronline.com or by telephoning 807-8237.
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