Yakima Valley Transportation Co Trolley Barn

The Yakima Valley Transportation Co Trolley Barn cleanup site is located 404 S 3rd Avenue at the corner of South 3rd Avenue and West Pine Street, in Yakima, Washington. This site was initially investigated in 1990 during underground storage tank (UST) removal and again in 2007 by the City of Yakima during a property purchase transaction.

The site has been operated since 2001 by the Yakima Valley Trolleys organization as a historical attraction with a museum and recreational trolley rides. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it is the last authentic, all-original, turn-of-the-century interurban electric railroad in the United States.

Electric trains have operated on the Yakima Valley Transportation Company (YVT) trackage every year since 1907. Service was first limited to a streetcar line in downtown Yakima. In 1909, the YVT was purchased by the Union Pacific Railroad with the purpose of expanding the system as a feeder of freight and produce to the Union Pacific mainline. In 1910, the YVT built a large stone and timber carbarn/shop facility on the Site. In 1911, a concrete and masonry powerhouse substation was constructed to provide the necessary DC electricity to operate the trolleys. 

In February 1947, the YVT terminated streetcar service, however the electric freight trains continued to operate. In 1974, the City of Yakima purchased two streetcars from Portugal to revive passenger service as a tourist operation. In 1985, the Union Pacific Railroad abandoned the Yakima Valley Transportation Company freight operations. Almost all of the system was donated to the City of Yakima in the process, and has been open as a museum since that time.

Additional information is available on the Yakima Valley Trolley’s website which was the reference for this historical summary.

The adjacent property which is now a parking lot for Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health (CWCMH) was originally part of the Trolley Barn facility. CWCMH conducted Phase II Environmental Assessments of this property in 1991 and 1996. Lead, cadmium, and heavy oils were detected above cleanup levels in soil. Groundwater monitoring was not conducted as part of these assessments.

In 2007, the City of Yakima contracted Phase I and II Assessments during purchase of the Trolley Barn property. Ground penetrating radar was used to attempt to locate an UST located under the substation building. Soil samples were collected from two soil borings drilled with an air rotary drill to a depth of 20 feet below ground surface (bgs) near the substation building and from three maintenance pit locations in the large trolley maintenance building (0.5 feet bgs). Heavy oils, cadmium, and lead exceeded Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) Method A soil cleanup levels. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chromium, and mercury were detected below cleanup levels in soils.

One of the soil borings was converted to a groundwater monitoring well where groundwater was encountered at a depth of 16 feet. One groundwater sample was collected and analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs), PCBs, and metals. Total chromium was detected in groundwater below cleanup levels if only chromium III is present (>100 ug/L), although above cleanup levels if chromium VI is also present (>50 ug/L). Laboratory speciation analysis for chromium VI was not conducted at the time. There was a mistake in the text of the Phase II Environmental Assessment report that mentioned cadmium was detected above groundwater cleanup levels instead of chromium. No other contaminants were detected above groundwater cleanup levels.

In 2014 and 2015, Ecology, working with the City of Yakima, conducted an additional remedial investigation of the site with funding from the Eastern Washington Clean Sites Initiative (CSI). Soil borings and groundwater monitoring wells were drilled to allow for soil and groundwater samples to be collected to characterize the extent of contamination at the site. Soil and groundwater samples were analyzed for heavy metals, total petroleum hydrocarbons, VOCs, cPAHs, and PCBs. Ecology also analyzed soil samples throughout the Trolley Barn property for heavy metals (e.g. lead and arsenic) on the surface and at a depth of 6 inches using a X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device. Arsenic, lead, cadmium, and heavy oils were detected in soil above cleanup levels. Arsenic and lead were detected in shallow soils throughout much of the site.

Contamination above cleanup levels has not been detected in the four monitoring wells in September or December 2014. Diesel range organics (DRO) and gasoline range organics (GRO) were detected below cleanup levels in September 2014 in the up gradient/cross-gradient well north of the Trolley Barn building. It is thought that these low levels of contamination may be coming from off-site, possibly through utility trench corridors. One groundwater grab samples was collected from a soil boring within the former underground storage tank (UST) basin located near the corner of South Third Avenue and West Pine Street. GRO, DRO, and lead were detected above groundwater cleanup levels, although there has not been any detections in the nearby down-gradient monitoring well, so the contamination is thought to be limited in extent. Groundwater monitoring was also conducted in May 2015 (results pending) and will be conducted at least one more time in late summer 2015. Groundwater flows directions were to the east during irrigation season and to the south/southeast during the winter.

Following collection of the soil data and initial groundwater data, GeoEngineers prepared a Trolley Barn Site Cleanup Recommendations technical memorandum for Ecology and the City of Yakima. Cleanup options examined included capping the Trolley Barn property with gravel and placing environmental covenants on the both the Trolley Barn property and CWCMH parking lot property, decommissioning the sub-station building UST in place, and excavating petroleum contaminated soil and/or applying a bioremediation product in the former UST basin near the corner of South Third Avenue and West Pine Street. 

In June 2015, the City of Yakima conducted an interim cleanup action at the site utilizing funds from an interagency agreement with Ecology.

Shallows soils contaminated with heavy metals (primarily arsenic and lead) throughout the Site was removed and/or capped with gravel. The City of Yakima had been planning to improve the parking lot at the Trolley Barn property later in 2015 regardless of the cleanup project, so plans for the new parking lot, including removing the existing sidewalk and placing sub-grade for future asphalt were incorporated into the project. A small area of soil in the southwest corner of the Trolley Barn property was designated as dangerous/hazardous waste and was disposed of at a hazardous waste disposal landfill in Arlington, Oregon.

Petroleum and heavy metals contaminated soil from the former UST basin near the corner of South Third Street and West Pine Street was removed and disposed of properly at a local petroleum contaminated soil treatment facility. Bioremediation product was placed in the bottom of the excavation prior to backfill with non-contaminated material as petroleum contaminated soil was still present below the seasonal high groundwater elevation.

An existing UST located under the sub-station building had originally been scheduled to be decommissioned in place, although the contractor was unable to open the fill port. Due to this issue, UST was not decommissioned and contents are still unknown, although if it may have been used for heating or transformer oil.

Environmental covenants for the two properties associated with the Site were recorded to ensure that institutional controls (soil cap) remain in place. A soil management plan was also prepared and distributed to the property owners and Yakima Valley Trolleys organization.

Based upon cleanup activities and the recording of the environmental covenant, Ecology has determined the site is no longer a threat to human health and the environment. Ecology issued a no further action determination in April 2016.

Ecology conducts periodic reviews every 5 years at sites that have institutional controls. The review is intended to examine the effectiveness of cleanup activities and to assure the continued protection of human health and the environment.
 
Periodic review results

The cleanup actions completed at the site appear to be protective of human health and the environment.

Soil cleanup levels have not been met at the site; however, the cleanup action is determined to comply with cleanup standards under WAC 173-340-740(6)(f), since the long-term integrity of the containment system is ensured and the requirements for containment technologies have been met.

The environmental covenant for the property is in place and is expected to be effective in protecting public health and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances and protecting the integrity of the cleanup action.

If the existing structures be removed or replaced, Ecology may require that contaminated soils beneath the site be remediated.

Based on the periodic review, Ecology has determined that the requirements of the environmental covenants are being followed. No additional remedial actions are required by the property owner. It is the property owner's responsibility to continue to inspect the site to assure that the integrity of the cap is maintained.

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