The Hands On Children’s Museum on the East Bay waterfront is planning a fourth expansion since it opened in 1996.
The HOCM sits atop one of the most contaminated hotspots on Port property. From the late 1880’s until 1968, it was the site of timber-related industries which caused soil and groundwater contamination. This area is under a legal agreement with the Department of Ecology for cleanup. Since June, 2010, LOTT Water Alliance, the City of Olympia and the Port are all responsible for the cleanup of the East Bay Redevelopment Site.
Two partial cleanups were done to remove and contain contaminated soil on the southern half of the site from 2009-2012 when the HOCM and LOTT headquarters were being constructed. In 2017, some soil contamination hot spots were removed and some were covered with a cap of clean soil, pavement, or buildings. Ecology states that tests show the groundwater is no longer contaminated.
Environmental covenants require stormwater control, prohibit soil disturbance and restrict land use, such as building construction, and all groundwater extraction. Port plans for the remediated site include development for office, retail, commercial and hospitality.
The construction, set to begin in 2026 with completion expected in late 2027, will add a new building and 26,000 square feet of new outdoor space for exhibits and an arrival plaza.
But what if the contamination is seeping from underneath the caps or the containment vessels meant to contain it? In his letter to the City Council, marine biologist Harry Branch questions if the source of the contamination is being controlled and what that means for the endangered Southern Resident Orcas. We might also question what that means for the 500,000 expected visitors when the Museum reopens in 2027.
A federal lawsuit filed by Arthur West requests a NEPA EIS be completed for the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project and the Budd Inlet Toxic Sediment Remediation project to cleanup the Port’s navigation channel in West Bay. Clearly, as part of lower Budd Inlet, the same federally impaired water body, the East Bay Redevelopment should be included as they are interrelated areas of the same ecosystem.
Sent to the City Council and staff
Dear All,
A recent study has found that a shortage of Chinook Salmon may not be what’s driving southern resident orcas to extinction. One hypothesis centers on vessel noise. I have my doubts because other populations are subject to vessel noise. An alternative hypothesis is the presence of persistent, bioaccumulative, lipophilic toxins. Persistent in that they don’t break down over time; bio accumulative in that they accumulate in tissue; and lipophilic, in that they mix with fats. In such a case the adults may seem relatively healthy but the toxins may be passed on to young through the mother’s milk. The adults would survive, the nursing young would perish and this is what’s happening.
These toxins would enter the food web near the bottom and be passed up from prey to predator. A persistent toxin might be picked up by plankton and be spread via the mixing of water or consumption by plankton eating species and move to another area ultimately to be consumed by an orca in another location.
One of the most toxic chemicals with all these properties is dioxin. One of the most dioxin contaminated places in Puget Sound is Budd Inlet. The source of this dioxin is likely nearshore soils and dredge spoils used as fill in various locations.
The City will be acquiring the location of the Hands on Children’s Museum from the Port which places the land in more appropriate ownership. The City needs to be aware that the outfall adjacent to this land is one of the dioxin hot spots (see below graphic). Concentrations are somewhere between 1000 and 4000 parts per trillion (ppt). Bear in mind that the standard for open water disposal, what is considered acceptable risk for marine animals, is 3.5 ppt. These are extremely high levels. The land immediately to the north of the HOCM is probably an uncontrolled source. The pathway could be either a storm drain, groundwater seeps, tidal flux or all three. Not addressing the pathway means contamination will continue to enter the marine environment. Building on top of the source means it can never be cleaned up.
The HOCM is planning on expanding over the area in question. Successful legal appeals by Olympians for Public Accountability, The Waste Action Project and other groups have demonstrated that The Washington Department of Ecology has a history of not requiring source control as required under Federal Law. It is up to the Olympia City Council to demand sampling of the location of proposed expansion of the HOCM. The endangered Southern Resident Orca Whales are counting on you.
Harry Branch is a retired vessel captain who writes about urban estuaries at garden bay blog.
Be First to Comment