B & L Woodwaste Landfill

The B&L Woodwaste Landfill received woodwaste from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s. The waste, which came from log sort yards in Commencement Bay, was contaminated with Asarco slag.

The Asarco slag (a byproduct of ore smelting operations) leaked arsenic into soil and groundwater at the site. Arsenic has also been found in ditches surrounding the landfill and in wetland area. This posed a threat to human health and the environment, especially nearby wetlands and Hylebos Waterway.

Ecology finished the site cleanup plan in 2007. During bankruptcy proceedings, Asarco agreed to fund the majority of site cleanup. Murray Pacific and Louisiana Pacific also agreed to contribute funding. In 2008 Ecology entered into a Consent Decree (legal agreement) with Murray Pacific to implement the Cleanup Action Plan. Ecology is managing cleanup activities at the site with funding from the B&L Custodial Trust

Since 1992, Murray Pacific and the trust finished most of the needed cleanup work. This included: 

• Combining the landfill into a single pile and capping it.
• Building a sub-surface wall around the landfill.
• Pumping and treating wetland groundwater. 
• Removing contaminated sediment from the drainage ditches around the site.
• Other remedial measures.

There no longer appears to be a human health hazard from arsenic at the site. Because of cleanup work Murray Pacific and the trust have done, there is no longer arsenic in the ditches along Interurban Tail. The contaminated water in the wetlands is at least 15 feet deep.

In 2015, contaminated soil was excavated along the south and west ditch of the site. Any contaminated water found during this work was treated. Trees were replanted and the excavated area filled with clean soil.