IRONDALE — Fencing will go up this week at the southern part of Irondale Beach Park as the state prepares to clean up pollution left by a smelter that closed nearly a century ago.
Ecology deemed the area on Port Townsend Bay safe after Jefferson County bought it for a park in 2001, then reversed itself and found that it required cleanup.
Anderson Environmental Contracting of Kelso, contracted by the state Department of Ecology, will prepare the area this week and start work the week of Aug. 20, said Seth Preston, spokesman for Ecology’s Air Quality and Toxics Cleanup Programs.
The contractor will remove about 2,300 cubic yards of in-water sediment and 5,600 cubic yards of soil, he said.
The soil was contaminated with metals and petroleum hydrocarbons left by the Irondale Iron and Steel smelter, which operated from 1881 to 1919 at 526 Moore St.
The 12-acre park’s southern part will be closed during the $2 million cleanup, which will continue into the fall, Preston said.
The northern portion which is owned by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, will remain open, said Matt Tyler, Jefferson County Parks and Recreation manager.
“You can still go down there,” Tyler said. “Just go to the northern part” of the park at the end of Moore Street in Irondale.
“When the project is over, we will do everything we can to make it a nicer park,” Tyler said, “planting grass and shrubs and possibly clearing some brush so the views are better.”
Preston said that the county has been working with Ecology on this project, “but we’re leading it and project costs will be paid out of the money the Legislature has designated for Puget Sound cleanup and restoration,” the state Puget Sound Initiative Funds.
The work is planned to take place when it will least affect fish, Preston said.
After removing contaminated soils and sediment, Ecology plans to:
— Install a fabric and soil cap to prevent public exposure to the contaminated soil that will remain on site.
— Remove slag, a by-product of the smelting process, from the beach and restore the beach.
— Restore the shoreline between the old plant and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Chimacum Creek restoration site to improve the habitat for salmon and other fish and birds.
After the former Irondale Iron and Steel mill was closed in 1919, equipment was removed, but no cleanup was done.
From 1919 until 2001, the site changed ownership several times, but no additional waste was produced.
From 1977 to 1999, the site was used as a log storage yard by a nearby chipping facility.
Jefferson County bought the site in 2001 and developed it into the Irondale Beach Park — which has a road, a parking lot, trails and a portable toilet with no further development.
After an initial investigation revealed evidence of hazardous materials, Ecology found that contamination was below levels mandated by the state Model Toxics Control Act, which regulates the investigation and removal of toxic wastes in the state, for cleanup of total petroleum hydrocarbons and metals.
In November 2005, a park visitor notified Ecology about an oily residue on the beach.
Ecology then determined that there was evidence of contamination along the beach during investigations from 2007 to 2009.
Pollution was found near former buildings and industrial activities.
Ecology held a public comment period on a draft cleanup action plan from December 2009 to January 2010.
After a State Environmental Policy Act review of the proposed cleanup, Ecology found that it would have no significant adverse impact on the environment.
The former Irondale smelter site is part of the Puget Sound Initiative, an effort by local, tribal, state, and federal governments; business, agricultural and environmental communities; scientists and the public to restore the health of the Sound.
For more information, see http://tinyurl.com/3lk49p7.