United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-045
June 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Duwamish Coalition, WA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA's Brownfields Program, with co-funding from
the EPA Office of Underground Storage Tanks,
selected the Washington Department of Ecology's
Duwamish Corridor Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon
(TPH) project for a Brownfields Pilot. This project
rose out of concern raised by the Duwamish Coalition
agencies about the out-of-date petroleum cleanup
standards. The Duwamish Coalition is abroad-based
partnership of over 200 local, state, Tribal, and business
organizations, as well as residential and environmental
groups, which has as its focus the cleanup and
revitalization of the Duwamish industrial corridor.
Located south of Seattle, the Duwamish corridor is
one of the most concentrated industrial areas in the
State of Washington. Much of its contamination
resulted from manufacturing activities in the 1930s
and 1940s, fuel leakage from both underground and
above-groundstoragetanks,andthecumulative impact
of intense vehicular and aircraft traffic around the
King County airport/Boeing Field complex.
Approximately 85 percent of the 203 properties
sampled in the corridor are contaminated with TPH.
This contamination, like other environmental
contamination, inhibits industrial redevelopment and
job creation, as well as environmental stewardship.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Duwamish Coalition,
Washington
DateofAward: SeptembeM995
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets an
11,000-acre area that includes
concentrated industrial areas, part
of Seattle's Enterprise Zone, and
three residential areas.
Contacts:
WashingtonDepartmentofEcology U.S. EPA- Region 10
(360)407-7193 (206)553-1987
Duwamish Coalition/King County
and City of Seattle Brownfields
Program
(206)205-0711
Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/MO/cleanup.nsf/webpage/Brownfields
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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OBJECTIVES
The objective of the Duwamish Brownfields/TPH
project was to develop a new approach to evaluating
risks and selecting cleanup remedies associated with
TPH-contaminated properties. The project was
designed to increase cleanup activity and create jobs
in an industrial area that is economically at risk, but
has not yet suffered from large-scale abandonment.
Under-use of this area is partly due to the expense and
difficulty of environmental cleanup. Problems with
financing availability, inability to sell ortransfer property,
and uncertain liabilities have diminished the usability
of these properties.
Background work on the mobility and toxicity of the
constituent elements comprising TPH will lead to a
statewide, risk-based guidance document and decision-
tree analysis. As apart of the State of Washington's
Model Toxics Control Act, these documents will be
implemented statewide for all land uses to achieve
effective cleanups in less costly ways and with
greater certainty of prospective purchaser and lender
liability. In addition, the technical advances in site
evaluation, risk-based corrective action, ecological
riskanalysis, and laboratory analytic methods outlined
in these documents are expected to be useful to the
federal government, the private sector, and other
states across the nation needing to address petroleum
issues at brownfields cleanups.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Formed a Project Oversight Group (POG) to oversee
research and development of the TPH methodology
and guidance (This oversight group consisted of key
staff from the Washington State Department of
Ecology, the U.S. EPA Region 10, King County,
Port of Seattle, and the Cities of Seattle and Tukwilla.
The POG performed an extensive amount of
techinical and regulatory analysis and support to
complete this project.);
• Identified and completed an initial review of the
remedy selection decision-making structures and
processes used by state and local governments
across the country;
• Coordinated with the Washington State Model Toxics
Control Act (MTCA) Policy Advisory Group and
other groups to develop a basic methodology for
determining TPH cleanup levels and draft revisions
to TPH rules under the MTCA;
• Worked successfully with the 200+ active member
Duwamish Coalition and other stakeholders in
facilitating an understanding of the interconnection
between community vitality, economic/industrial
redevelopment, and environmental justice policy
objectives;
• Held five workshops in April and May 1996 to solicit
comments from stakeholders on the methodological
framework designed using the American Standards
and Testing Materials' Risk-based Corrective Action
guidance (Approximately 200 stakeholders attended,
representing such parties as: tribes, environmental
groups, business and legal representatives, major
utility companies, and government staff); and
• Developed a draft guidance document for assessing
risk and setting cleanup standards of TPH
contamination for ecological/terrestrial and human
health, as well as a draft decision flowchart for a
tiered risk assessment process.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Duwamish Coalition Pilot has
been a catalyst for related activities, including the
following:
• The Pilot selected and oversaw assessments of
three TPH-contaminated brownfields parcels in the
Duwamish Corridor by private parties at a cost of
$120,000 to test the new draft TPH decision-
making framework.
• An overlapping, focused groundwater project in the
Duwamish area, results of which were used in TPH
guidance document and MTCA revisions, created a
computer mapping database that was adopted by
Ecology and has been used for at least one cleanup.
• More than $ 1 million has been leveraged for cleanup
and redevelopment through partnerships with the
state, and local governments.
• Three additional Brownfields pilots are now in place
which continue the work initiated under the Duwamish
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
June 2001
Duwamish Coalition, Washington
EPA 500-F-01-045
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Coalition:
1. The City of Seattle/King County Showcase
Community Pilot was awarded in 1998. An
Environmental Extension Service started as
a result of the Duwamish Coalition has been
expanded as part of the Showcase effort to
provide door-to-doorassistance to businesses
in assessing and cleaning up contaminated
land.
2. The City of Seattle/King County Job Training
Pilot was awarded in 1999. This pilot will
enable local residents, including those along
the Duwamish Corridor, to take advantage of
newjobscreatedby the assessment or cleanup
ofbrownfields.
3. The City of Seattle and King County are also
partners in the Washington Coalition
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot which was
awarded in 2000. This pilot will provide low
interest loans to cleanup brownfields sites,
many of which are located in the Duwamish
Corridor.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Duwamish Coalition, Washington
June 2001 EPA500-F-01-045
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