Tacoma Coal Gasification

No Address on File Tacoma, Pierce County
Facility Site ID: 1249 Cleanup Site ID: 3675

  • Site Status

  • Cleanup Started

More about cleanup

Current Status

The Washington Department of Ecology held a comment period for an Agreed Order and public participation plan for the Tacoma Coal Gas cleanup site.  The Agreed Order requires the Washington Department of Transportation, City of Tacoma, Puget Sound Energy, and PacifiCorp to describe the types and extent of contamination, consider and compare cleanup options, and choose cleanup methods in a draft Cleanup Action Plan.  The public participation plan describes how Ecology will inform the community about opportunities to be involved in the cleanup process.

Ecology received one comment and replied to it in the responsiveness summary.

Site Description

The Tacoma Coal Gas plant, located at the head of the Thea Foss Waterway, operated between 1884 and 1924. After it closed, property owners removed above-ground structures and covered the site with fill. Contamination was discovered on the site in 1984 during geotechnical drilling for construction of I-705.

Most of the remaining buried structures and some of the contaminated soils were removed from within the right-of-way during construction of I-705 and SR-509 and sewer installation along Dock Street. Contaminated soils outside of the right-of-way were identified but not removed. Remaining contaminants in soil and groundwater are typical of coal gasification plants and include Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene). 

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Places to see print documents
Legal 5
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Agreed Order No. DE 13972 3/5/2018 Agreed Order
Restrictive Covenant 200701120566 1/12/2007 Environmental Covenant; Alternative Mechanism
Tacoma Coal Gasification Agreed Order Amendment 2 2001 9/13/2001 Agreed Order Amendment
Tacoma Coal Gasification Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia Region Agreed Order 3/2/1995 Agreed Order
City of Tacoma Agreed Order 10/28/1993 Agreed Order
Map 2
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Tacoma Coal Gas - Site Map AO 13972 3/5/2018 Map
Tacoma Coal Gasification Site Map 8/1/1999 Map
Public Information 5
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Tacoma Coal Gas contacts 9/28/2018 Responsiveness Summary
Tacoma Coal Gas eComments 9/28/2018 Responsiveness Summary
Tacoma Coal Gas Responsiveness Summary 9/28/2018 Responsiveness Summary
Public Participation Plan Tacoma Coal Gas 7/19/2018 Public Participation Plan
Tacoma Coal Gas Plant 7/18/2018 Fact Sheet\Public Notices
State Environmental Policy Act 1
Document Title Document Date Document Type
Determination of Nonsignficance 5/9/2018 SEPA Documents
Technical Reports 5
Document Title Document Date Document Type
City Coordinator Change Letter 12/15/2023 Site Specific Administrative Document - other (Administrative correspondence)
Tacoma Coal Gasification site - Approval of Additional Characterization Work Plan 1/18/2023 Site Specific Administrative Document - other (Administrative correspondence)
Notification of Project Coordinator Designation 9/9/2019 Site Specific Administrative Document - other (Administrative correspondence)
Remedial Investigation (RI) Report Tacoma Coal Gasification 6/6/2019 Remedial Investigation Report
Appendix A- Well Inventory January 2016- Remedial Investigation report 1/25/2016 Site Specific Technical Document - other
There may be more documents related to this site. To obtain documents not available electronically, you will need to make a public records request.

Places to see print documents

  • Southwest Regional Office
    300 Desmond Dr SE
    Lacey, 98503-1274
    Please schedule an appointment to view print documents at this location.

Contaminants 4

Contaminant Type
Soil
Groundwater
Surface Water
Air
Sediment
Bedrock
Non-Halogenated Organics - Petroleum Products-Unspecified C C
Non-Halogenated Organics - Phenolic Compounds S S C
Non-Halogenated Organics - Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons C C C
Non-Halogenated Organics - Benzene C C C
S
Suspected
C
Confirmed Above Cleanup Levels
B
Below Cleanup Levels
RA
Remediated-Above
RB
Remediated-Below
R
Remediated
This contaminant list was based on our best information at the time it was entered. It may not reflect current conditions at the site.