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Council moves Boot Hill site cleanup contract to May agenda after environmental update
Summary
Council advanced a resolution to authorize a contract with Herrera Inc. for supplemental testing and reporting at the Boot Hill (Foothill) site; staff said carcinogenic PAHs are the primary contaminant and disposal could cost about $750,000 depending on results.
Stormwater Technician Patrick Hoffman told the Shelton City Council on April 21 that the Foothill, or Boot Hill, site has been sampled intermittently since 2000 and remains in the Washington Department of Ecology Voluntary Cleanup Program. Hoffman said the city plans three additional borings, nine soil samples, one groundwater sample and a terrestrial ecological evaluation to update trends and pursue a "no further action" determination from Ecology.
Hoffman described the primary contaminant of concern as carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and said heavy metals have occasionally appeared in earlier tests. He gave an order-of-magnitude estimate for material disposal of about $750,000 but emphasized disposal would depend on forthcoming lab results and regulatory direction: "Potential scenarios would be...based on testing," he said.
After questions from council members about whether contamination was migrating off site and about possible brownfields funding, councilors moved and carried a motion to place Resolution 1434-0426 — authorizing an agreement with Herrera Inc. for environmental consulting and supplemental investigation — on the May 5 action agenda for final consideration. Hoffman said historical data suggest contaminant levels have declined and that Ecology has accepted previous sampling plans; he cautioned the next steps will be determined by results from the supplemental testing.
The presentation explained the city entered Ecology’s VCP in 2009 and that recent work discovered a decommissioned manhole with contaminated water during grading for the adjacent MTA park-and-ride. Hoffman said consultants will upload data to Ecology’s EIM database and prepare a supplemental remedial investigation report that will inform whether disposal, further remediation or monitoring are required.
Next procedural steps: the council forwarded the contract for formal action May 5; the recommended scope is limited to investigation, reporting and coordination with Ecology, not to immediate large-scale removal.
