Hardel Mutual Plywood

This cleanup site in Olympia has been used for wood milling since the late 1800s. Hardel Mutual Plywood (Hardel) operated at this site from 1951 to 1996. Wood milling released hazardous substances into the environment.

Hardel signed a legal agreement with Ecology in 2007 and cleaned up the site in 2010. In 2012, Ecology listed the cleanup as complete.

West Bay Development Group (West Bay) bought the property from Hardel in 2021. West Bay discovered areas of contamination in soil and groundwater that were not found in the earlier cleanup work.

Therefore, this site needs more cleanup to protect human health and the environment.

The Hardel Mutual Plywood site is on the western shore of Budd Inlet. The Site is generally located at 1210 West Bay Drive NW. Recent Thurston County records show the Site was divided into five parcels. The addresses of the five parcels are 1410, 1420, 1430, 1510, and 1520 West Bay Drive NW.

West Bay bought the property from Hardel Mutual Plywood in 2021. West Bay conducted environmental sampling prior to purchase and identified several additional areas of contamination that were not found in an earlier cleanup.

West Bay was accepted into Ecology’s Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP) in 2021. Because sediment investigation and cleanup are also needed, Ecology decided that the site should enter the formal cleanup process.

So, Ecology negotiated a legal agreement, Agreed Order DE 21726, with West Bay. The agreement requires West Bay to:

• Study the site to understand what kind of contamination is at the site, and where it is.
• Use that information to compare different options for how to clean up the site.
• Suggest a cleanup option to Ecology.

Ecology also created a Public Participation Plan describing how we will contact the public about this site, and opportunities for public input.

Ecology will accept public comments on Agreed Order DE 21726 and the Public Participation Plan from May 1 - June 2, 2025. Ecology will finalize the documents after considering public input.

In 2004, sampling found petroleum products and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at the site. Diesel, gasoline, and oil are types of petroleum products at the site.

In 2007, Ecology and Hardel signed a legal agreement to start the cleanup process at this site.

2010 cleanup work included:

• Removing concrete building foundations, saving clean concrete.
• Removing petroleum floating on groundwater.
• Removing about 23,331 tons of contaminated soil and debris. Hardel used clean soil to fill those areas.
• Pumping and treating groundwater from areas where soil was removed. Hardel discharged about 1,250,600 gallons of treated water to the sanitary sewer system.
• Covering part of the site with one foot of crushed concrete. Hardel reused clean concrete from the building foundations.

In August 2012, after a year of monitoring, Ecology listed the cleanup as complete. Read more in the delisting fact sheet.