Industrial Container Services WA LLC

Updated March 2023

The Feasibility Study phase is in progress.

BACKGROUND 

In 2010, Ecology negotiated a legal agreement called an Agreed Order with the property
owner Herman Trotsky and the site operator, Industrial Container Services-WA, LLC, the Potentially Liable Persons (PLPs) for the Industrial Container Services-WA, LLC site. The Agreed Order describes the work that the PLPs agree to perform on the site. Under this legal agreement, the PLPs are required to complete the following:

• Remedial Investigation (RI). The purpose of the RI is to define the nature and extent of contamination at the site and to determine if it is contributing to the sediment contamination in the Lower Duwamish Waterway. During the RI, the PLPs will collect data necessary to adequately characterize the contamination in soil, groundwater, stormwater, and sediments.

•Feasibility Study (FS). The FS will use the results of the RI to evaluate and choose measures to clean up contamination and prevent recontamination of the sediment.

•Draft Cleanup Action Plan (DCAP). Ecology will identify a preferred cleanup action based on the results of the FS.


What happens next?

Ecology is working with the PLPs to complete the RI and move forward with the FS. The next opportunity for public comment will be when the Draft RI Report and Feasibility Study are available for review.


Why this cleanup matters

This site is part of Ecology’s Lower Duwamish Waterway source control efforts, because it may be contributing pollution to the Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW) Superfund Site. The 5-mile stretch of the Duwamish River that flows north into Elliot Bay was added to the Superfund National Priorities List by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2001.

The sediments (mud) in the river contain a wide range of contaminants due to decades of industrial activity and runoff from urban areas. EPA is leading efforts to clean up the river sediments.

Ecology is leading efforts to control sources of contamination from the surrounding land area. The long-term goal is to minimize recontamination of the river sediment and restore water quality in the river. 

The Industrial Container Site is one of several sites that will be cleaned up as part of Ecology’s Source Control Strategy – controlling sources of pollution to the river. Contaminants in the soil and groundwater around the river pose a risk to human health and the environment. They can also find their way into the river through storm runoff and other pathways. For more information, visit our Source Control page.

Site location

The Industrial Container site is located in an industrial area on the west side
of the Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW) near the First Avenue South bridge. It is
bordered by on the north by the Douglas Management Dock cleanup site, on the east
by Boyer Towing, on the south by DaVinci Gourmet, and on the west by First Avenue South. 

The site contains an inlet to the Duwamish River (Trotsky inlet) on the north side. Across the inlet is Alaska Marine Lines (Douglas Management Dock cleanup site).

The Lower Duwamish Waterway drainage basin is divided into source control
areas. This site is located within the Trotsky Inlet (river mile 2.1-2.2) source control area on the west side of the river.


Site history

Drum reconditioning and manufacturing operations on the property date back to as early as the 1930s. In the early 1940s, Mitzel & Co. reportedly refurbished 1,500 drums per month for the U.S. government during World War II.

The Trotsky family purchased the property in 1953 and operated the site as Northwest Cooperage. The property was paved in 1973 and a wastewater pretreatment system was installed. The pretreatment system included a “closed” drainage system that channels all drainage, including stormwater, spills, and process water into a wastewater pretreatment system to the sanitary sewer.

Industrial Container Services-WA, LLC currently leases the property and continues to operate a drum reconditioning facility. Operations at the site include storage, cleaning, and repainting of used drums, some of which may have contained food products, petroleum products, solvents, resins, paints, adhesives and hazardous wastes.


Contamination

Contamination at this site is a result of drum reconditioning operations. Soil, groundwater and sediment contaminants include:

•Metals such as arsenic and copper
•Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
•Pesticides
•Petroleum hydrocarbons
•Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)


Previous cleanup work

In 1986 and 1991, samples were collected from soil, groundwater and sediment in
the inlet at the site. 

 Sediment samples collected in 2006 during the Lower Duwamish Waterway Remedial
Investigation showed some dioxins and furans in the surface and subsurface
sediment in the inlet.

In 2007 Ecology installed three new monitoring wells and sampled two
existing wells, as well as intertidal seeps and sediments, and a stormwater
outfall at the site. Results are reported in the Summary of Additional Site
Characterization Activities: Trotsky and Douglas Management Company Properties.

The Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA; Chapter 70.105D RCW is Washington’s environmental cleanup law). It provides requirements for contaminated site cleanup and sets standards that protect human health and the environment. Ecology enacts the MTCA and oversees cleanups. The MTCA site cleanup process is completed in steps (see graphic below) over a variable timeline.