Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill

Interstate 82 Yakima, Yakima County
Facility Site ID: 1927
Cleanup Site ID: 3853

  • Site Status

  • Cleanup Started

Related Cleanup Sites

More about cleanup

May 15
12:00 am
–
June 15
12:00 am

Public Comment Period

Ecology has information to share with you about the cleanup of pollution in your community. Work is being planned for a highway expansion through the Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill and the Boise-Cascade Mill sites, located next to Interstate 82 in Yakima. Development of this land requires cleanup of the contaminated site in order to protect the health of the community.

These sites share an industrial history, and activities at both properties contributed to the contamination of the shared soil and groundwater. Many harmful chemicals were found including heavy metals, diesel, gasoline, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, solvents, and benzene in the soil, groundwater, and/or surface water near the sites.

The workplan for the cleanup of the area where the highway is planned is available for you to give us feedback.

An Amendment to the Interim Action Work Plan is available for public comments from May 15 through June 15, 2026.

After the work plan is finalized further cleanup activities and highway construction will be able to continue.

Site Description And History

The Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill site is located at the south end of the Boise Cascade Mill (CSID 450) site in Yakima, immediately west of Interstate 82 at Exit 33A. The landfill part of the site covers about 33 acres and lies entirely within the historic operational footprint of the surrounding Mill. A railroad right-of-way runs along its northern edge.

The land that is now the landfill was originally a log pond at the south end of a lumber and plywood mill that operated for more than a century. Around 1963, the pond was drained and the City of Yakima used the resulting basin as a municipal solid waste landfill until about 1970. When dumping ended, the waste was covered and brought to grade with a mixture of fill soil and mill wood waste — bark, wood chips, and scrap lumber. The mill tenant continued to use the surface as a log-storage and chipping yard until 2010.The buried landfill was effectively forgotten until 1996, when construction of the Interstate 82 Exit 33A off-ramp re-exposed it. Initial soil and groundwater sampling found contaminants above state cleanup levels.

Environmental Contaminants

Soil and Buried Solid Waste
Beneath the surface, investigations have found buried municipal, construction, and mill waste up to about 15 feet thick along the eastern edge of the site, with diesel and oil impacts to the native soil immediately below. Lead and chromium were identified in early sampling above state standards and are hazardous for human health.

Groundwater
Groundwater beneath the landfill contains dissolved arsenic, iron, and manganese — driven by conditions that form where shallow groundwater contacts decomposing wood waste. Petroleum is present in the groundwater along the northwestern edge, near the former plywood mill, and may extend beneath portions of the site. Groundwater conditions beneath the landfill and the surrounding Boise Cascade Mill site are connected.

Landfill Gas
This waste is producing gas — primarily methane, with carbon dioxide and trace volatile organic compounds, including vinyl chloride. Methane has been measured at concentrations well above the lower explosive limit for methane in air. The gas is a health hazard for workers during road construction.

Future Site Characterization And Cleanup

Cleanup Status
Cleanup at the site is being managed by the City of Yakima under an agreement with Ecology, in coordination with cleanup of the surrounding Boise Cascade Mill site. The Yakima East-West Corridor roadway project crosses the landfill area. Therefore, cleanup work has been integrated with road and utility construction so that the project reduces risk of hazardous exposure to the road workers and protects the groundwater for the future.

The first major phase, completed in 2020 and 2021, removed the buried landfill from the path of the future road. Crews excavated and hauled offsite roughly 144,000 tons of municipal solid waste, 40,000 tons of mill wood waste, and 550 tons of petroleum-impacted native soil from beneath the waste. The excavated area was backfilled with clean imported soil. To prevent landfill gas from migrating into the new roadway and utility corridor, a low-permeability soil barrier wall was built around the perimeter of the city right-of-way.

The current phase of installing the underground utilities — water, sewer, storm drainage, and irrigation — is within the cleaned roadway corridor and extends a short distance into the surrounding mill site. A sanitary sewer is also being installed along the eastern edge of the landfill.

Pre- and post-construction groundwater monitoring continues, and Ecology issued updated preliminary cleanup levels for the Landfill in 2024 to guide ongoing work.

Path to Final Cleanup
The interim work described above is managed by the Agreed Order but is not the final cleanup. It is being done now because the road and utilities are being built; its purpose is to reduce immediate risk and to leave every reasonable future cleanup option on the table.
A feasibility study has not yet been completed for the landfill site, and the final cleanup remedy has not yet been selected. After the current utility-corridor phase wraps up, the City will document the work in a progress report, and the progress reports will eventually be consolidated into a final interim action completion report. Ecology and the City will then move into feasibility study, cleanup action plan, and final remedy selection for the landfill.
Places to see print documents
Legal 4
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Agreed Order DE15861 Amendment Letter 5/4/2023 Agreed Order Amendment
I82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill Agreed Order - DE 15861 7/9/2018 Agreed Order
I 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill Final PLP Status 5/5/2017 Final Potentially Liable Person Status Letter
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill ENL 4/23/1996 Early Notice Letter
Outreach Information 6
State Environmental Policy Act 2
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - SEPA Checklist 10/11/2019 SEPA Documents
Ecology comment letter on road extension project SEPA 8/3/2018 SEPA Documents
Technical Reports 50
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Amendment to Interim Action Work Plan 3/31/2026 Interim Action Plans and Reports
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Updated PCUL Memo Letter 9/30/2024 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Updated PCUL Memo 9/30/2024 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - PCUL Memo Comments on Unsaturated & Saturated Soil PCULs Memo Letter 9/9/2024 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - PCUL Memo Comments on Unsaturated & Saturated Soil PCULs Memo 8/29/2024 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Response and Resolution to Groundwater & Surface Water PCULs Memo Letter 8/21/2024 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Response and Resolution to Groundwater & Surface Water PCULs Memo 7/26/2024 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - PCUL Memo 1/19/2024 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - PCUL Memo Letter 1/19/2024 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - PCUL Memo Letter 9/27/2023 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - PCUL Memo 9/22/2023 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Ecology Comments on IAWP Post Construction GW Sampling 7/28/2023 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - ECY Comments for Post-Contruction GW Sampling Interim Action 1/17/2023 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Notice of Change to Landfill Gas Barrier Design 5/18/2021 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Technical Memo - Pre-Construction GWM Data Report 2/16/2021 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Project Coordinator Change 1/20/2021 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Sept 2020 10/15/2020 Progress Report
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Cleanup Site Manager Change 7/14/2020 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Change to Gas Barrier Design 4/21/2020 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Interim Action Work Plan and Next Steps 2/13/2020 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Determination of Non-Significance 12/31/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Cultural Resource Survey Work 10/18/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Ecology comments on June 6, 2019 Letter from Yakama Nation 10/3/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Ecology Site Manager Change 8/5/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A - Yakima City Landfill - Interim Action Work Plan 7/29/2019 Interim Action Plans and Reports
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Final IAWP 7/2/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Exit 33 Yakima Landfill Interim Action Work Plan - Roadway Project 5/2/2019 Interim Action Plans and Reports
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - GW-SW Interaction - Technical Memo 4/16/2019 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33a Yakima City Landfill 3/13/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - 45 Day Extension on Draft IAWP 1/25/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill ECY Review Draft GW/SW ITM 12/21/2018 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill ECY Review Draft IA WP 12/21/2018 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill 45 Day Extension for Draft IA WP 10/1/2018 Interim Action Plans and Reports
Transportation Corridor Wood Debris and Landfill Gas Investigation 9/12/2018 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill 30Day Notice of Potential Liability 3/30/2017 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Yakima Landfill Supplemental RI Rpt 9/29/2015 Remedial Investigation Report
Interstate 82 Exit 33 Remedial Investigation Interim Data Report 4/14/2015 Remedial Investigation Report
Closed Yakima Landfill September 2014 Soil and Groundwater Investigation Summary and Results 11/26/2014 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill Soil Vapor and Groundwater Sampling Rpt 7/17/2012 Monitoring Report
Yakima Landfill Additional RI rpt 3/17/2010 Remedial Investigation Report
Yakima Landfill RI rpt Text and Tables 10/12/2009 Remedial Investigation Report
Yakima Landfill RI rpt Figures 10/12/2009 Remedial Investigation Report
Yakima Landfill RI rpt Appendix A & B 10/12/2009 Remedial Investigation Report
Yakima Landfill RI rpt Appendix C & D 10/12/2009 Remedial Investigation Report
Yakima Landfill RI rpt Appendix E & F 10/12/2009 Remedial Investigation Report
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill Phase 2 ESA 10/1/2008 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill Site Hazard Assessment 8/1/1997 Site Hazard Assessment Report
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill - Site Hazard Assessment 7/10/1997 Site Hazard Assessment Report
I-82 Exit 33A - Old Landfill - Disposal of Landfill Refuse 1/24/1996 Site Specific Technical Document - Other
I-82 Exit 33A - Old Landfill - Correspondence - File 01 1/22/1996 Site Specific Administrative Document - Other (Administrative Correspondence)
Voluntary Cleanup Program 3
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill VCP Opinion on RI 12/21/2015 Voluntary Cleanup Program Opinion – Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima City Landfill VCP Opinion on Site Cleanup - Further Action 6/9/2015 Voluntary Cleanup Program Opinion – Other
Interstate 82 Exit 33A Yakima Landfill - VCP Opinion on Site Cleanup - Further Action 5/2/2014 Voluntary Cleanup Program Opinion – Other
There may be more documents related to this site. To obtain documents not available electronically, you will need to make a public records request.

Places to see print documents

  • Central Regional Office
    1250 W Alder St
    Union Gap, 98903-0009
    Please schedule an appointment to view print documents at this location.

Contaminants 4

Contaminant Type
Soil
Groundwater
Surface Water
Air
Sediment
Bedrock
Metals - Metals - Other S C
Non-Halogenated Organics - Petroleum Products-Unspecified S S
Non-Halogenated Organics - Phenolic Compounds S S
Metals - Lead C
S
Suspected
C
Confirmed Above Cleanup Levels
B
Below Cleanup Levels
RA
Remediated-Above
RB
Remediated-Below
R
Remediated
This contaminant list was based on our best information at the time it was entered. It may not reflect current conditions at the site.