Tacoma Coal Gasification

The Washington Department of Ecology held a comment period for an Agreed Order and public participation plan for the Tacoma Coal Gas cleanup site.  The Agreed Order requires the Washington Department of Transportation, City of Tacoma, Puget Sound Energy, and PacifiCorp to describe the types and extent of contamination, consider and compare cleanup options, and choose cleanup methods in a draft Cleanup Action Plan.  The public participation plan describes how Ecology will inform the community about opportunities to be involved in the cleanup process.

One comment was received.  The responsiveness summary can be found at the following link:

Tacoma Coal Gas Responsiveness Summary


To review the current documents associated with this site, please view the following links:

As cleanup moves forward, you will be invited to comment on the remedial investigation, feasibility study, and cleanup plan.

The Tacoma Coal Gas plant, located at the head of the Thea Foss Waterway, operated between 1884 and 1924. After it closed, property owners removed above-ground structures and covered the site with fill. Contamination was discovered on the site in 1984 during geotechnical drilling for construction of I-705. Most of the remaining buried structures and some of the contaminated soils were removed from within the right-of-way during construction of I-705 and SR-509 and sewer installation along Dock Street. Contaminated soils outside of the right-of-way were identified but not removed. Remaining contaminants in soil and groundwater are typical of coal gasification plants and include Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene). 

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