Northport Waterfront

Intersection Of Hwy 25 And Park Rd Northport, Stevens County
Facility Site ID: 96239 Cleanup Site ID: 14874

  • Site Status

  • Cleanup Started

Related Cleanup Sites

Related Information

  • Dirt Alert program - Industrial air emissions and pesticides used in farming have polluted large areas of soil with arsenic and lead. Our Dirt Alert program provides information on how you can protect yourself and your family.

More about cleanup

Public Comment Period May 02, 2022-June 01, 2022

Draft Cleanup Action Plan

Ecology is directing cleanup of smelter-related metals contamination on Northport’s waterfront. You are invited to comment on the draft Cleanup Action Plan. You can learn more in the public notice we mailed to the community.

Review the draft document
Online public meeting, May 17, 6 p.m.

Join on Zoom

Join by phone:

  1. Dial: 253-215-8782
  2. Enter Zoom Meeting ID 881 7536 0585, followed by “#”
  3. Enter the Passcode 480648, followed by “#”
Submit comments by email or mail to:

Justin Rice, justin.rice@ecy.wa.gov
4601 N. Monroe St., Spokane, WA 99205
Or use the online comment form

Next steps

We will respond to all the comments we receive during the comment period and publish our responses. Then, we will begin working on the engineering design for the cleanup. The draft engineering design report will be available for public review and comment before final cleanup begins.

Project Background

Looking north at the waterfront toward the boat launch
Looking north at the waterfront toward the boat launch

We are directing and funding an investigation and cleanup of smelter-related metals contamination on Northport’s waterfront area next to the Town Park, using funds from the Eastern Washington Clean Sites Initiative. 

The project area includes permanently and seasonally exposed areas of the Columbia River bank and shore directly next to the park and boat launch. From the river, this area is between Smelter Rock downstream to the Northport Highway 25 bridge, and is associated with the historic Le Roi Smelter that was located at and around the park. The area remains polluted by smelter wastes that were dumped and spread along the shore.

Our goal is to assess options for protecting people and restoring the near-shore and shoreline environment next to the park. We look forward to working with local government, businesses, and residents during the investigation and cleanup process to understand your concerns and the community’s vision for the waterfront.

Contamination and cleanup options reports published

We held a comment period on the draft Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) May 3 through June 2, 2021. The RI explains the extent and locations of contaminants, and the FS evaluates cleanup options. You can learn more in the public notice that was mailed to the community and our slides from the online public meeting we held May 19. We responded to four sets of comments on the RI/FS.

Beach sampling complete

We held a comment period March 13 - April 11, 2019, for the Remedial Investigation (RI) Work Plan and related State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) documents. Learn more about the investigation in the notice that was mailed to the community. We responded to comments from two people and thank them for their input.

Contamination

The information in the draft Remedial Investigation Report showed the following metals were found most frequently throughout the site at levels posing a risk to human health and the environment: Metal levels do not pose an immediate, acute human health risk. However, long-term exposure may increase the risk of certain health problems. You can take simple actions to protect yourself and your family from exposure.
Places to see print documents
Public Information 6
State Environmental Policy Act 1
Document Title Document Date Document Type
SEPA Checklist & DNS: Northport Waterfront 2/21/2019 SEPA Documents
Technical Reports 4
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Cleanup Action Plan: Northport Waterfront 4/13/2022 Cleanup Action Plan
Feasibility Study: Northport Waterfront 4/19/2021 Feasibility Study
Remedial Investigation: Northport Waterfront 10/2/2019 Remedial Investigation Report
Work Plan: Northport Waterfront Remedial Investigation 3/7/2019 Remedial Investigation Work Plan
There may be more documents related to this site. To obtain documents not available electronically, you will need to make a public records request.

Places to see print documents

  • Eastern Regional Office
    N 4601 Monroe St
    Spokane, 99205-1265
    Please schedule an appointment to view print documents at this location.
  • Northport Town Hall
    315 Summit St.
    Northport, 99114
    This location may only have print documents available during open comment periods.

Contaminants 4

Contaminant Type
Soil
Groundwater
Surface Water
Air
Sediment
Bedrock
Metals - Metals - Other C C
Metals - Arsenic C C
Metals - Lead C C
Metals - Mercury S S
S
Suspected
C
Confirmed Above Cleanup Levels
B
Below Cleanup Levels
RA
Remediated-Above
RB
Remediated-Below
R
Remediated
This contaminant list was based on our best information at the time it was entered. It may not reflect current conditions at the site.