Dawn Food Products

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Blog | "Cleaning Up: Dawn Food Products site moves closer to cleanup”

Cleanup moves forward with Remedial Investigation
Ecology held a 45-day public comment period (May 22 – July 5, 2023) on a Public Participation Plan and a legal agreement called an Agreed Order with Bridge Point Seattle 130 LLC (Bridge Point), the Potentially Liable Person, for the Dawn Food Products cleanup site at 6901 Fox Avenue South in Seattle. The Agreed Order requires Bridge Point to address contamination at the site. 

Ecology has reviewed and considered the public comments received on the documents and will finalize both documents. 

Based on Ecology’s evaluation of the comments, no updates were made to the Agreed Order or Public Participation Plan.

Ecology will finalize the PPP. We will continue to evaluate the community’s use of our adjusted LDW site outreach planning for future comment periods and will amend the PPP, as needed, based on community engagement. 

The Dawn Food Products cleanup site is continuing the cleanup process. Ecology will make the future Remedial Investigation, Feasibility Study, and Cleanup Action Plan available for public review and comment.

The Dawn Food Products site is adjacent to the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund Site, which includes a 5-mile stretch of the Duwamish River. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the LDW Superfund Site to the Superfund National Priorities List in 2001. Ecology is working to stop or reduce sources of contamination to the LDW Superfund Site, an effort known as “source control,” so that the EPA can proceed with the cleanup of the river sediment. 

The Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) is Washington’s environmental cleanup law. It provides requirements for contaminated site cleanup and sets standards that protect human health and the environment. Ecology enacts the MTCA and oversees cleanups. The MTCA site cleanup process is completed in steps (see graphic below) over a variable timeline.

Since no significant changes were made to the Agreed Order or Public Participation Plan, Ecology will finalize the documents and Bridge Point will proceed with the Remedial Investigation, Feasibility Study, and create a Draft Cleanup Action Plan for public review.

Each of those steps will require a public comment period. The graphic above shows these different stages of cleanup. Sometimes multiple stages occur in one public comment period.

Current Dawn Food Products cleanup site Public Participation Plan

This plan includes information for the public regarding opportunities to get involved in the Site cleanup process. The outreach activities and mechanisms presented reflect Ecology’s current plans for keeping the public informed and for receiving information and comments from the public. 

​Location
The Dawn Food Products cleanup site is located at 6901 Fox Avenue South in Seattle WA. Bridge Point Seattle 130 LLC recently purchased the approximately 5.4-acre property in the industrial area near Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood in 2021. This property is located adjacent to the Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW) Superfund Site.

Site discovery and Initial Investigation
A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) was conducted in January 2020, documenting contamination of soil and groundwater. A Phase II ESA was conducted in March 2020, documenting contamination in the form of metals, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) from gasoline, Carcinogenic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (cPAHs), and halogenated solvents. The goal of this investigation was to determine if the release may pose a threat to human health or the environment, and if further cleanup actions are needed.  Ecology tracks any site that is suspected or confirmed to be contaminated with hazardous materials, as required by the state’s cleanup law, the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), created by a 1989 voter initiative.

Ecology’s Confirmed and Suspected Contaminated Sites List
Following this investigation process the site was listed on the Confirmed and Suspected Contaminated Sites List.