June 14

Gas Works project given green light from the Department of Ecology, pending public input

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The Washington Department of Ecology has issued a finding that an upcoming project to cover a field in Gas Works Park with clean soil raises no significant environmental issues and can go forward. They are looking for public comment through June 29, 2012, on a Declaration of Non-Significance (DNS) for the project. (A DNS means that after conducting an environmental review, Ecology determined the project does not need an environmental impact statement.)

This project is part of a bigger plan to clean up contaminated matter at the bottom of Lake Union along the park:

Parts of the half-acre field just north of the park’s Play Barn pavilion contain hydrocarbon compounds. Rainwater that drains off the field can carry pollutants that accumulate in the lake sediment. A foot-deep “cap” of clean soil and a new lawn would protect a future sediment cleanup by preventing recontamination from this field.

Gas Works Park was the site of a plant that converted coal and oil into gas from the early 1900s until 1956. Operations at the plant, owned by predecessors of PSE, along with other industrial activities, resulted in contamination of the land and adjoining lake sediments. The park itself has already undergone a cleanup.

To submit comments or ask questions about the DNS please contact Ecology’s cleanup site manager, John Keeling: 425-649-7052 or john.keeling@ecy.wa.gov. The DNS and related documents are available to the public by clicking here.


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