Sound Mattress & Felt Co

Ecology signed Agreed Order DE 19403. The Agreed Order requires planning the cleanup at the site. 

A fact sheet briefly summarizes information about the site. 

Ecology held a comment period from February 10 to March 13, 2022, inviting comments on Agreed Order DE 19403 and the Public Participation Plan. 

We received a comment during the comment period. The Responsiveness Summary provides our response to the comment received. 

Ecology made no changes to the Agreed Order or the Public Participation Plan based on the comment period. 

Ecology staff is overseeing the project to ensure that human health and the environment are protected.  

The Site is on East 11th Street near the Sitcum Waterway in the the Tacoma Tideflats. The Site is about 10 acres and includes nearby properties. The affected properties are on Thorne Road and Sitcum Plaza, on railway property, and street right-of-ways next to these properties. The Port owns the three affected parcels (2275200661 (also known as Parcel 91), 695000502, and 2275200633).

In 1948, Washington Steel Products constructed a building on Parcel 91. The facility made metal products. In 1964, Sound Mattress and Felt Co. purchased the parcel and leased it to several businesses, including Brown and Haley, Inc.

In 2006-2007, the Port purchased Parcel 91 and in 2014-2015 demolished the building. Now trucks and trailers are stored there. The Port’s administration building is across the street on the other side of East Sitcum Way, next to the Sitcum Waterway.

From about 2004 to 2006, several independent investigations showed that chemicals hazardous to human health and the environment are present in groundwater above state cleanup standards. 

Chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) are metal degreasing solvents. CVOCs like tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), dichloroethene (DCE), and vinyl chloride (VC) are present in groundwater above state cleanup levels.

Metals in soil are suspected to be present in concentrations above state cleanup levels. The metal contaminants in soil include arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc.

The owners of Sound Mattress entered into Ecology's Voluntary Cleanup Program in 2007. Between 2007 and 2017, Sound Mattress completed several site investigations.

In 2010, building materials and coatings containing PCBs were discovered in the warehouse building on Parcel 91. PCBs leached into soil and groundwater surrounding the building and were discovered in the stormwater system. In late 2014 to early 2015, the Port excavated contaminated soil surrounding the building, removed solids from the storm sewer catch basin, removed PCB-containing materials from the building, and demolished the building. The contaminated soil, solids, PCB-containing building materials, and building demolition debris were disposed of offsite in permitted hazardous (Subtitle C) and non-hazardous solid waste (Subtitle D) landfills.

Nearby the Site is a large US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site, Commencement Bay, Nearshore/Tide Flats, that was placed on the National Priorities List in 1983. EPA’s site encompasses 12 square miles of shallow water, shoreline, and adjacent land that includes an active commercial seaport. Due to widespread contamination, EPA divided the site into several units managed as distinct cleanup sites. The Sitcum Waterway sediment unit was part of the EPA’s site. The Sitcum Waterway was cleaned up by dredging to remove contaminated sediments.