Interim cleanup action plan proposed for Ridgefield site

The state Department of Ecology and the Port of Ridgefield are mulling an interim cleanup plan for part of the polluted Pacific Wood Treating site.

Public comment on the latest plan will be accepted through Thursday.

State regulators are considering an interim cleanup plan that would excavate hot spots of polluted soil, down to industrial-standard cleanup levels, then cap those areas with a geotech-style membrane below a minimum of 2 feet of clean fill imported from the Ridgefield interchange project on Interstate 5.

The idea is to block rainwater from filtering down and potentially causing the pollution to migrate with groundwater.

“When you cap it, you remove one of the primary methods for migration,” said Craig Rankine, site manager for the Department of Ecology.

The 41-acre site operated as a wood-treating company from 1963 to 1993, soaking the ground with cancer-causing pollutants. The company went bankrupt in 1993.

The port is continuing the cleanup, which it expects will cost taxpayers between $68 million and $70 million by the time it’s complete.

Contaminants that will be addressed in the cleanup include dioxins and furans, arsenic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The full interim cleanup plan is available for review at the Ridgefield Library, 210 N. Main Ave., or online at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/sites/pacWoodTreat/pacWoodTreat_hp.html.

Comments should be directed to Rankine at 360-690-4795 or Craig.Rankine@ecy.wa.gov, or mailed to 2108 Grand Blvd., Vancouver, WA 98661.