TagEcology(33)

Tacoma Smelter Plume.Arsenic and lead levels are considered to be of concern, not an emergency.

he Port of Seattle expects to complete demolition of the buildings on the former Lora Lake Apartments site, 15001 Des Moines Memorial Drive, in Burien, by the end of summer. The Port bought the site in 1998 because a portion of the apartment complex was located within the Runway Protection Zone (RPZ) of the third runway, and the Port was required to demolish all structures within this zone. The portion of the site not in the RPZ is slated to be redeveloped. Burien and the Port are working together on a long-term redevelopment strategy that includes this property. Environmental testing on the apartment property has revealed soil contamination consistent with industrial uses that occurred at the site prior to construction of the apartments. Cleanup is required by state law and is necessary for the future redevelopment. Agreed Order While planning for demolition, the Port entered into a legal agree- ment called an Agreed Order with the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), which will guide the steps leading to clean up of the property. The agreement requires the Port to prevent contaminants from migrating during demolition, to issue a public involvement plan, and to perform further investigations of the contamination and evaluation of appropriate cleanup methods. Ecology scheduled a public comment period for the Agreed Order to begin July 10. It is being announced in newspapers, by direct mail and Ecology’s Web site, and will continue through Aug. 10. Documents are available for public review at the new Burien Library, 400…

Previous air pollution modeling efforts and current facility expansion activities at Sea-Tac International Airport have raised concerns about elevated nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in the surrounding community. The goals for this project were to 1) assess compliance with the 100 micrograms per cubic meter annual national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for NO2, 2) quantify any local concentration gradients, and 3) evaluate the impact of aircraft operations on local NO2 levels. The scope of this project included annual NO2 measurements throughout the community; samplers were located in areas near the north and south ends of the airport where aircraft operations would most likely affect ambient concentrations. Three-week integrated NO2 measurements were continuously performed at 16 locations using Yanagisawa NO2 diffusion badges. Additionally, Washington State Department of Ecology (WDOE) performed continuous nitrogen oxides (NOX) measurements using Federal Reference Method chemiluminescent analyzers and collected meteorological data at two of the sampling locations. Annual average NO2 measurements at all sites were well below the NAAQS. Consistent spatial concentration gradients were observed throughout the study. NO2 levels decreased from east to west. NO2 levels generally decreased with distance from both the airport runways and local freeways. Hourly NOX and meteorological data from WDOE monitoring stations were used to identify local source impacts by comparing measured NOX levels by wind direction. Because NOX is primarily emitted as nitric oxide (NO), concentration of this species varied more with wind direction than NO2. Evidence of a small but discernable airport impact on NOX levels was observed near…