Excavation for mystery oil on Port Angeles beach tonight
Doug Stoltz of the state Department of Ecology points down a bluff to the site where a pool of oil was unearthed along the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca near the former Port Angeles landfill. -- Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
By Randy Trick, Peninsula Daily News
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The crews, working under the supervision of the state Department of Ecology, will take out at least 15 truck loads of sand and soil that have been contaminated with some sort of petroleum product, said Doug Stoltz, lead spill responder with Ecology.
We're trying to plan on anything," Stoltz said Wednesday.
"Hopefully it's just a 55-gallon drum."
The oil was discovered a week ago by crew members with Glacier Construction of Mukilteo who were anchoring a new sea wall with riprap as part of a bluff stabilization project at the closed Port Angeles landfill at 3501 W. 18th St.
The crew was working at 2:30 a.m. to take advantage of a low tide in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The oil was found on the ocean side of a sea wall, but it is not thought to have seeped into the water.
After the crews found the oil nine feet deep underground, work was halted for 48 hours, then allowed to continue 54 feet to the west.
Exploratory digs on Monday and Tuesday found no other oil.
Because the tides were not favorable on Wednesday, Ecology, the city and the contractor planned this evening's excavation.
The oil found and tested so far has been a mixture of some lubricating oil, heating fuel and diesel.
The oil is likely very old, Stoltz said, because the of the particularly toxic parts of the product - benzene, toluene and xylene.
These chemicals have either already broken down or evaporated.
The oil is still toxic and hazardous, Stoltz said, and keeping it out of the water during cleanup will be a priority.
"That's a big part of our job, picking up people's oil," Stoltz said.
Stoltz said it is likely that the oil is from an old storage tank or an abandoned drum that was either part of the landfill and fell from the bluff to the beach, or that possibly washed ashore years ago.
"There's gotta be a source, a tank, maybe it just deteriorated and left a pool of oil," Stoltz said.
Oil to be analyzed
Stoltz said that the city's vacuum truck and absorbent materials will be on hand when excavation begins as the tide is going out tonight at 6:30 p.m.
The excavation could continue Friday and will be timed during low tide.
Stoltz said the dirt and sand from the beach will be hauled to the top of the bluff, analyzed and, depending on how contaminated it is, treated accordingly.
An estimated 20 gallons of oil were absorbed, collected or vacuumed from the site after it was found.
Stoltz said that as the tide was coming in after the oil was discovered, the pit was covered with dirt.
No oil seeped out from under the layer of dirt, which indicated that it was not seeping into the Strait before it was found.
Stoltz said that neither Ecology nor the Coast Guard, which flies over the beach twice a day, have seen a sheen near the sea wall in the last week.
No seepage
Test trenches were dug next to the oil and on the south side of the sea wall.
Ground water was allowed to seep into them, then they were checked for sheens 24 hours later.
None of the test sites showed oil, indicating that the source is localized and not just general seepage from the dump.
Stoltz said that had oil been found in test holes on the land side of the sea wall it would indicate that it was not separating the ocean and the dump, and would likely have to be repaired or replaced.
Decades of dumping
Much of Clallam County's garbage was dumped at the site for decades.
The Port Angeles landfill was operated by the city for 16 years, and it accepted about 60,000 tons of garbage per year.
The last seven acres of the 44-acre site was capped during the summer.
The site is now the Port Angeles Regional Transfer Station, which ships garbage out of town or recycles materials.
Before it was closed, part of the landfill was at the top of an eroding bluff next to the Strait.
"This used to hang over, and stuff just fell over," Stoltz said of the old dumpsite before it became a landfill.
Since then, the waterfront has been sloped to the ocean, covered and seeded with grass.
At the bottom of the slope a sea wall has been installed to prevent erosion.
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Reporter Randy Trick can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at randy.trick@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: October 10. 2007 9:00PM