Solid Wood Inc

Solid Wood Inc is a cleanup site in West Olympia. The site lies on the West Bay of Budd Inlet, east of West Bay Drive and north of the Fourth Avenue Bridge. The site includes the former mill area, former railroad right-of-way, and peninsula.

This site was used as a lumber mill from 1925 to 1959. The Port of Olympia bought the site in 1963 and used it to store logs. Then, the Solid Wood plywood veneer mill operated from 1971 until the facility burned down in 2001.

Now, the City of Olympia owns the site and is the potentially liable person responsible for investigating and cleaning up toxic contamination at the site. Ecology oversees cleanup and partially funds the work through a remedial action grant. Removing toxic contamination is an important step towards the city’s future vision of West Bay Park. To learn more about the park, please visit the City of Olympia's West Bay Park webpage.

The interim action, or partial cleanup, will remove contaminated soil from four areas in the undeveloped area of the site. Ecology and the city planned the location and depth of excavation areas based on previous sampling work. More sampling work will happen before excavation begins to design the exact excavation areas. Confirmation samples will also be collected after excavation, to confirm that the cleanup is effective. The interim action will also remove about 600 feet of rail track. Please refer to the interim action plan for more detailed information and figures.

Soil near the former mill foundation is contaminated with heavy oil and diesel (total petroleum hydrocarbons). About 211 cubic yards of contaminated soil will be excavated up to a maximum depth of eight feet.

Soil along the rail tracks is contaminated with carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) in three areas. About 395 cubic yards of contaminated soil, up to a maximum depth of six feet, will be excavated from the area closest to West Bay Park. About 345 cubic yards will be excavated from the middle area, digging to a maximum depth of one foot. Further south along the rail spur, the last excavation area will be about 275 cubic yards from a maximum depth of one foot.

Groundwater wells along the shoreline did not detect contamination. One groundwater well near the former mill foundation had contaminants, at concentrations below cleanup levels. By removing contaminated soil, the interim action should stop any pollutants from leaching into groundwater.

For information about permit exemptions and schedule, please refer to the fact sheet.

Ecology held a public comment period from July 9 to August 10, 2026, for an agreed order amendment and the draft interim action plan. We received four comments and responded to them.

Thank you for your interest in the Solid Wood Inc cleanup site!

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