LONGVIEW — Two Southwest Washington companies — including one in Kalama — have submitted a plan for closing and cleaning up three solid waste storage facilities in Lewis County.
Emerald Kalama Chemical and Fire Mountain Farms will close the three storage units by removing accumulated waste that was once used as fertilizer, according to the cleanup plan.
The plan outlines how the companies can dispose of 20,100 cubic yards of mixed material and an undetermined amount of contaminated soil in a licensed solid waste landfill, according to the state Department of Ecology. Any liquid waste will be treated at Emerald’s wastewater treatment plant in Kalama.
Ecology has made the plan available for public review and comment through Aug. 7.
After evaluating all public comments, Ecology will make a final decision on the proposed closure plan and either approve it or require the companies to revise it.
“We believe the closure plan submitted by the two responsible parties will allow for the safe disposal of this material and cleanup of the property,” said James DeMay, Ecology’s Industrial Section Manager. “It’s important for the public to review the proposed plan and let us know what they think of it.”
The closure and cleanup is specific to the facilities owned and operated by Fire Mountain Farms at Newaukum Prairie (in Chehalis), Burnt Ridge (in Onalaska) and Big Hanaford (in Centralia). The mixed material being stored at those three locations was registered as a fertilizer with the Washington State Department of Agriculture between 2001 and 2002, but then the registration was not renewed, according to Ecology.
Ecology uncovered the lapsed registration during a 2014 review and ordered the companies to stop mixing and applying the material.
Fire Mountain Farms had used the mixed material on its fields as fertilizer. Emerald provided its industrial wastewater biological solids for the mixture, which also included cow manure, municipal wastewater treatment plant biosolids, and secondary wastewater treatment solids, according to the cleanup plan.
After collecting data showing the mixed material does not contain chemicals at levels considered dangerous, Emerald and Fire Mountain Farms filed petitions in 2018 to change its waste classification to solid waste. Ecology and the U.S. EPA approved the petitions earlier this year after holding concurrent, 30-day public comment periods on the proposed change.
The one-time change in waste classification gives the companies a single opportunity to safely dispose of the mixed material as solid waste and mitigate any damage done where it was stored.
The proposed cleanup plan is available on Ecology’s website. Public comments can be submitted through the webpage; by email to greg.gould@ecy.wa.gov; or by mail to Greg Gould, Industrial Section, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600.
