Marshall Landfill

We are hiring a contractor to clear debris over the landfill to reduce wildfire risk. When the top of a landfill burns, it can ignite the waste underground, which can smolder for a long time and is hard to put out.

We are working on getting funding to complete the full cleanup. Our next step is to draft the cleanup action plan, which will be available for public comment before becoming final. The plan will propose a final cleanup for contaminated soil and groundwater and permanently close the landfill following state regulations.

The site is approximately seven miles southwest of Spokane and one mile southwest of the town of Marshall.

Because parties responsible for contamination at the site are unable or unavailable to pay for cleanup, the Ecology is leading and funding cleanup under the Eastern Washington Clean Sites Initiative.

The landfill has two waste disposal areas:

• The 25-acre main landfill operated from 1970 through 1990. After closing, it was covered with a sand layer.
• The 5-acre landfill operated from 1980 through 1984. A passive gas venting system and compacted clay cap were installed after it closed. The cap appears to have failed in spots, however, and some waste is exposed.

A landfill owned by Spokane County is next to the site, but current information doesn’t show contamination coming from that landfill so it is not part of the cleanup.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs); petroleum products; metals, including arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, and mercury; and pesticides and herbicides have been found during soil and groundwater investigations at the site. 

From 1989 to 1991, Marshall Landfill, Inc. installed 17 monitoring wells to investigate soil and groundwater contamination after it was detected in nearby residential wells in the late 1980s. They sampled groundwater quarterly from 1993 to 2011, under Spokane Regional Health District requirements.

In 2013, Ecology received funding to do a remedial investigation and feasibility study to determine the extent and locations of contamination and evaluate cleanup options.

The draft Work Plan for the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study and Public Participation Plan were available for public comment February 23 to March 5, 2015. Ecology provided background about the site, the current status, and proposed work during a presentation at a public meeting in Marshall on March 5, 2015. Ecology responded to public comments before finalizing the work plan.

The Remedial Investigation Report and Feasibility Study were available for public comment July 2 - August 1, 2018. We received no comments, and are now developing the cleanup action plan.