5th St Espress Cafe

The 5th Street Espress Café property is located at 506 West Railroad Avenue in downtown Shelton in Mason County. The site is located in the retail center of Shelton, and is surrounded by other retail businesses. A drive- through espresso stand and a restaurant currently occupy the site. The property is bounded on the south by Railroad Avenue and to the east by 5th Avenue.

Site History

Prior to 1992, the site was occupied by a retail petroleum facility with five underground storage tanks. The system included two 4,000-gallon tanks, two 6,000-gallon tanks, and a 500-gallon fuel oil tank. It is unknown when the tanks were installed, what product they contained (other than the fuel oil tank), or how long the site operated as a retail petroleum facility. The fueling station closed in 1992, and all tanks were removed.

How was the site cleaned up?

Site soils and groundwater were contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons contamination from the underground storage tanks.

In 1992, approximately 530 cubic yards of soils were excavated during the removal of the underground storage tank system.  This consisted of 315 cubic yards of contaminated soils and 215 cubic yards of clean overburden soils. These soils were contaminated with gasoline and xylenes above the levels set by state law (the Model Toxics Control Act). The contaminated soils were stockpiled and aerated for three years before using them as backfill material on the site without any re-sampling.

Results of a groundwater sample showed benzene, toluene and xylenes above the MTCA cleanup levels. Three groundwater monitoring wells were installed and monitored for a total of six quarters in 2000 and 2001.  Results of the last four quarters showed that the contaminant concentrations were either below cleanup levels or not detected.

In 2002 Ecology expressed concerns that the stockpiled soils were not sampled before being used for backfill in 1995. Additional soil sampling confirmed that the concentrations of TPH-G, toluene, ethylbenzene, and total xylenes above MTCA cleanup levels.

In July 2002, Ecology decided that the site would be eligible for a no-further-action (NFA) determination if the remaining contaminated soils were protected through the implementation of institutional controls.  An NFA determination was issued by Ecology in July 2002 and an environmental covenant was recorded for the property in August 2002.  

What does the environmental covenant do?

The institutional controls required by the environmental covenant would prevent exposure to remaining contaminated soils and serve to notify future property owners of contamination at the site.

In this case, the environmental covenant prohibits the owner from disturbing existing asphalt pavement in two specific areas on the site or from constructing any permanent structure over those same areas. 

 Ecology reviews cleanups at least every five years to make sure they still protect human health and the environment. The environmental covenant continues to be in place and its requirements appear to be protective. 
 
Ecology will do another periodic review after five years.