Tacoma Port of Kaiser
Cleanup Actions
Interim actions allowed for much more efficiency and it allowed partial areas of the facility to be utilized, once cleaned up, rather than waiting until the entire cleanup was finished to be able to utilize any of the facility.
Ecology held three comment periods associated with the Kaiser site. These comment periods were for two Interim Work (partial cleanup) Plans.
No comments were received at the end of the comment periods in February 25, 2013
You can find detailed information in the final work plans and in the fact sheet below.
Site Description & History
Kaiser has been a cleanup site since the early 1980s. Kaiser began several Interim Actions (partial cleanups). Now the port is in the process of completing cleanup of the whole site under legal agreements with Ecology.
What is spent potliner?
Kaiser smelted aluminum in large steel pots lined with carbon known as potliner. The pot consists of a steel shell supporting brick insulation, covered with potliner. Over time, the brick and carbon lining broke down and had to be replaced. The waste, known as “spent potliner," contains carbon, fluoride salts, cyanide and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Kaiser put the “spent potliner” on bare ground, where it was exposed to rain water. The spent potliner leached cyanide and fluoride into the storage area soils and groundwater.
The Port removed soils contaminated with PAHs and the waste material that was buried on site.
Landfill cleanup
In 2009, the port removed a rod mill, a facility that had made aluminum rods for industrial uses. One thousand tons of contaminated soil were dug up from a landfill that was next to the rod mill. The port has now cleaned up that landfill.
Rectifier Yard
An area behind the smelter contained electrical equipment used to transfer electricity to the smelting pots and the rest of the facility. Insulating fluid from some of the equipment leaked onto soil in the yard. In some cases, there were low concentrations of PCBs in the fluid, and in some cases the releases just consisted of petroleum hydrocarbons. Both were removed by the port.
Former Log Yard
An area at the north end of the facility was formerly a log yard. As was common, the log yard soils were stabilized with waste, called slag, from the Asarco smelter. This contributed to lead and arsenic contamination in the soil. The remaining smelter slag was removed by the port.
Most of the facility has been capped with several feet of clean fill, mainly clean dredged sediment from the enlargement project in the head of Blair Waterway.
Site use restrictions called institutional controls are in effect
Institutional controls can be fences, signs, or restrictions on how the property is used. For instance, an institutional control may prohibit installing drinking water wells or disturbing a protective cap that isolates contamination. These restrictions keep the contamination contained and keep people from being exposed to the contamination. The controls are usually listed in environmental covenants recorded with the county.
Periodic reviews are required when institutional controls are required at a site. Ecology conducts reviews to make sure the controls remain effective and the cleanup still protects human health and the environment. We conduct periodic reviews about every five years.
Institutional Controls 2
Environmental Covenant
Restrictions/Requirements
- Prevent the Reuse or Relocation of Site Soil
- Restrict Land Use
Restricted Media
- Soil
Environmental Covenant
Restrictions/Requirements
- Maintain/Protect Monitoring System
- Ongoing Maintenance of Remedy
- Prohibit Soil Disturbance
- Restrict All Ground Water Extraction/Well Installation
- Restrict Land Use
Restricted Media
- Groundwater
- Soil
Documents 34
Legal 6
Document Title | Document Date | Document Type |
Former Kaiser - Port of Tacoma Environmental Covenant 201704170625 | 4/17/2017 | Environmental Covenant; Alternative Mechanism |
Tacoma Port of Kaiser Consent Decree 2016 | 11/14/2016 | Consent Decree |
PortofTacomaKaiser_PublicReview_ConsentDecree | 7/1/2016 | Consent Decree |
Port of Tacoma Kaiser Agreed Order FINAL | 5/23/2011 | Agreed Order |
Kaiser - Restrictive Covenant 9504250307 | 4/25/1995 | Environmental Covenant; Alternative Mechanism |
Port of Tacoma Kaiser Consent Decree | 7/12/1990 | Consent Decree |
Public Information 4
Document Title | Document Date | Document Type |
Kaiser_ResponsivenessSummary_2016 | 10/4/2016 | Responsiveness Summary |
Port of Tacoma Kaiser Fact Sheet | 8/1/2016 | Fact Sheet\Public Notices |
PortofTacomaKaiser_PublicReview_PPP | 7/1/2016 | Public Participation Plan |
Fact Sheet | 3/1/2013 | Fact Sheet\Public Notices |
State Environmental Policy Act 4
Document Title | Document Date | Document Type |
Determination of Non-Significance | 1/16/2013 | SEPA Documents |
SEPA Checklist | 1/16/2013 | SEPA Documents |
Port of Tacoma Kaiser SEPA Checklist 2011 | 6/15/2011 | SEPA Documents |
Port of Tacoma Kaiser SEPA DNS 2011 | 6/15/2011 | SEPA Documents |
Technical Reports 20
Places to see print documents
-
Southwest Regional Office300 Desmond Dr SELacey, 98503-1274Please schedule an appointment to view print documents at this location.
Contaminants 3
Contaminant Type | Soil |
Groundwater |
Surface Water |
Air |
Sediment |
Bedrock |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Metals - Metals Priority Pollutants | C | |||||
Non-Halogenated Organics - Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons | C | C | ||||
Other Contaminant - Conventional Contaminants, Inorganic | C | C |
- S
- Suspected
- C
- Confirmed Above Cleanup Levels
- B
- Below Cleanup Levels
- RA
- Remediated-Above
- RB
- Remediated-Below
- R
- Remediated