North Marina Ameron Hulbert

A Puget Sound Initiative site - Reaching the goal of a healthy, sustainable Puget Sound.

The North Marina Ameron/Hulbert site is part of the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place Redevelopment. It is generally located between 11th and 13th streets, west of West Marine View Drive in Everett, Snohomish County, WA. Primary uses of the site since the late 1800s have included shingle and saw milling, marine support services, and concrete pole and piling manufacturing. The William Hulbert Mill Company (Hulbert) owned most of the site from 1923 to 1991 and conducted mill operations at the Site until approximately 1960. In approximately 1972, Hulbert leased a large portion of the Site to Centrecon, a concrete pole manufacturing company. Utility Vault Company (UVC; now Oldcastle Precast Inc) purchased Centrecon in 1978. In 1988, Ameron International (Ameron) entered into an asset purchase agreement with UVC, whereby it purchased most of the assets, properties and business of UVC's Centrecon division. The Port of Everett (Port) purchased the property from Hulbert in 1991 and used a portion of the property to stockpile soil from other Port properties. Under a lease, Ameron currently manufactures decorative concrete poles at the site.

The Port completed extensive investigation and partial cleanup of the site under Ecology’s voluntary cleanup program. An investigation to fully characterize contamination at the site has been completed. Interim actions removed approximately 22,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and cleaned out and repaired stormwater lines.

Ecology and the PLPs entered into an Agreed Order for site cleanup on June 3, 2009. The Agreed Order requires the PLPs to develop an Interim Action Cleanup Report, a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) work plan to evaluate the nature and extent of Site contamination, an RI/FS Report, and a Draft Cleanup Action Plan to describe the proposed cleanup action and outline cleanup requirements for the site.

 Key milestones are summarized below.

• The Interim Action Cleanup Report, which details investigation and cleanup work conducted prior to the Agreed Order, was finalized on April 8, 2010.
• The RI/FS work plan was developed and Ecology approved it on November 17, 2010.
• Field RI – Initial RI field activities commenced in late November 2010 with the collection of soil and groundwater samples. Sediment samples were collected from the 12th Street Marina in December 2010. Supplemental RI sampling (collection of soil and groundwater samples) was conducted in January 2011 to investigate conditions associated with the recently de-constructed Collins Building (removed in November 2010). Two areas with petroleum contamination that are exposed to the elements were identified.
• An RI Data Report detailing the results of the initial investigation was received in
  June 2011.  The RI Data Report was used to identify additional data needs to define the full nature and extent of contamination at the site.
• Emergency Action (Removal of Petroleum Contaminated Soil) - Ecology instructed the PLPs to remove the soil contaminated with petroleum within the footprint of the de-constructed Collins Building to reduce the threat of contaminants migrating and to prevent human direct contact. The emergency action was conducted in August 2011. Approximately 79 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed and transported off-site for treatment and disposal. The technical report for this action was appended to the DCAP.
• Additional RI sampling, which consisted of soil, groundwater, surface water, stormwater solids, and process waste sampling, was conducted in October and December 2011. Further soil sampling was conducted in May 2013 to evaluate the nature and extent of soil contamination in two areas of the site.
• Emergency Action (Stormwater System Repair) – An emergency action to decommission and replace a portion of an existing stormwater pipe that discharges to the 12th Street Yacht Basin was completed in December 2013. Approximately 13 tons of accumulated sediments with elevated concentrations of several hazardous substances were removed as part of the emergency action. The technical report for this action is appended to the DCAP.
• Emergency Action (Removal of Contaminated Soil and Stormwater System Repair) – In 2014, an additional emergency action was taken to remove about 3,200 tons of soil contaminated or potentially contaminated with metals and replace a damaged section of storm drain. The technical report for this action is appended to the DCAP.
• A final RI/FS Report was submitted to Ecology in April 2014 after undergoing public review. The RI/FS Report describes contamination and possible cleanup action alternative at the site.
• Most of the cleanup actions were completed by September 2022. After reviewing the site completion report Ecology noted that one area still needed to be capped.  The port finished capping the area in 2023.

The Port and Ecology are drafting an Environmental Covenant that will be filed with the Snohomish County court.  After completion the site will transition to long term monitoring.

Read more about how Washington's cleanup process works.