Jacobson Terminals Marine

The Jacobson Terminals facility is located at 5355 28th Avenue Northwest in the Ballard district of Seattle. The property boundaries are the Lake Washington Ship Canal (Ship Canal) to the east and south, Seaborn property to the east, Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) property to the west, and City of Seattle (City) property to the north.

The property is located on a former estuarine tideflat. In the 1920s, the area was filled with sand dredged from the Lake Washington Ship Canal, wood waste, and construction debris. The property was the site of a lumber mill from approximately 1890 to the 1930s. Starting around 1940, the property was used for loading and unloading boats and for storage. The property is currently used as a marine support facility.

Contaminants of concern at the Site include chlorinated solvents (PCE, TCE, Cis-DCE, and vinyl chloride) and tri- and di-chlorobenzene in groundwater.  In soils are PCBs, tri- and di-chlorobenzene, and petroleum hydrocarbons.  Chlorinated solvents and chlorinated benzenes are believed to be derived from manufacturing activities at a hydraulically upgradient property.  PCBs are believed to be derived from a transformer oil release at the Site. Petroleum hydrocarbons are observed near a storage shed adjacent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property to the west of Jacobson Terminal. The soils directly beneath the property consists of dredge silt and sand, wood debris and miscellaneous debris.  A silt layer underlies the fill through most of the property at a depth of about 18 to 20 feet. Depth to water at the property is between 4 and 7 feet below ground surface.

In 1996 PCB and petroleum contaminated soil was excavated and removed from an area between the Jacobson Terminal and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers property.  In 2001 and 2002 a Fenton Reagent wall was installed between the upgradient property and the Jacobson Terminal property to address chlorinated solvent and chlorinated benzene contamination migrating onto the property. In 2003 a permeable treatment wall containing granular activated carbon and zero-valent iron was installed adjacent to the Lake Washington Ship Canal to remove PCBs and chlorinated benzene. 

An effort that was begun in 2013 is underway to characterize the extent of a past PCB release at the north central area of the Jacobson Terminal Site.  The effort involves collecting push probe samples through the contamination and on the perimeter of the contaminated area to define how much contamination is in the soils.  The purpose of the characterization is to provide information for a remedy design that will allow the contamination to be removed from the Site.