SITE STATUS - MAY 2020

The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the City of Bothell (City) are amended their legal agreement, called a Consent Decree (CD), for the Bothell Service Center Simon & Son site (BSCSS Site). The CD now includes an investigation and cleanup plan for petroleum contamination at the adjoining former Als Auto Bothell Wexler Site (Wexler).

Ecology hosted a public comment period from August 26 to September 24, 2019 for the following documents:
 
* Draft Amended Consent Decree – legal agreement that requires the City to conduct the cleanup.

* Draft Remedial Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study (FS) Report – RI describes environmental conditions and extent of contamination at Wexler; FS presents cleanup alternatives and identifies a preferred alternative.
 
* Draft Cleanup Action Plans (DCAP) – describes in more detail the preferred cleanup alternative for Wexler; the BSCSS DCAP will have some minor revisions also.

* State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist and Draft Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) – states that cleanup activities will cause no environmental harm.

During this comment period, Ecology received no comments that warranted significant changes to the documents, and so finalized them. The cleanup process is now moving forward with investigations at the Site. When investigations are concluded Ecology will host another comment period to present them to the public.  Stay tuned to this page for details.

SITE BACKGROUND

The City of Bothell is the current owner of the former Wexler property and a Potentially Liable Person (PLP). The property was formerly located at 18129 Bothell Way NE in Bothell. However, the property has been re-parceled and its location is now defined by an additional parcel.

Contamination at Wexler is believed to have originated from the release of gasoline from an underground storage tank (UST) system of a gasoline service station. The gasoline station operated there from 1947 to 1970. The USTs were excavated in 1989. A groundwater treatment system consisting of a groundwater recovery trench and recirculation treatment system was installed, operated, and later abandoned. However, soil and groundwater remain contaminated. Soil is contaminated with gasoline, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and naphthalene. Groundwater is contaminated with gasoline. Additionally, the area is contaminated by dry cleaning solvent chemicals from the BSCSS Site, which include Tetrachloroethene (PCE), Trichloroethene (TCE), Cis-1,2 Dichloroethene (DCE), and Vinyl Chloride (VC).

All of these contaminants were found at levels that exceed allowable standards under the state’s cleanup law, the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) and therefore must be addressed.

Proposed Cleanup of Wexler

The FS concluded that the preferred remedial alternative for cleaning up Wexler consists of:

• Excavation and off-site disposal of petroleum-contaminated soil,
• Excavation dewatering and disposal of contaminated groundwater,
• Application of a bioremediation product in the excavation prior to backfilling to speed up natural attenuation.

Compliance groundwater monitoring will confirm if contamination is removed or is below cleanup levels, which are protective of human health and the environment.
There is an existing RI, FS, and DCAP for the BSCSS Site, which addresses the cleanup of dry cleaning solvents associated with this Site. Some revisions to the DCAP for the BSCSS Site have been added and will become part of this CD.

RELATED INFORMATION

• SEPA register  

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Acronyms used by the Toxics Cleanup Program
• Cleanup Process: Major Steps & Definitions
• Data Submittal Requirements for All Cleanup Sites
• Toxics Cleanup publications