SITE REMEDIATION AND
EMERGENCY RESPONSE NEWSLETTER
October 2013
No. 181
Lockheed Martin to Clean Up its Elliott Bay Superfund Site at Cost of $48 Million
EPA has issued a record of decision for the Lockheed West Superfund Site, a shipyard, which released contaminants into Elliott Bay in Seattle, Washington.
Cleanup will remove contamination from a 40-acre area in Elliott Bay. More than 151,000 cubic yards of sediment will be dredged from the sub-tidal area and an additional 15,800 cubic yards will be excavated or dredged from the shoreline and intertidal area. A thin layer of clean material will be laid across the site to enhance natural recovery and cover dredged areas. The dredged sediments will be disposed of in a permitted landfill.
The contaminated sediments contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), metals, dioxins/furans, tributyltin (TBT), and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs).
Cleanup planning and construction are to be completed in two years. EPA will monitor the site during and after the cleanup and will continue to monitor the site every five years, as required by law.
EPA says that the cleanup will not change the water quality in Elliott Bay. Removing contaminated sediments at the Lockheed West site will not bring arsenic concentrations into compliance with ambient water quality standards. Because of this, the EPA record of decision waives the arsenic standards as “technically impracticable” to meet.
The Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company operated at the site for nearly 50 years. Its activities included ship berthing, repair and maintenance at dry docks, moorage along piers, construction in the shipway and associated upland activities. The Port of Seattle purchased the property in 1988, and it was added to the Superfund National Priorities list in 2007.
Lockheed Martin Corporation is responsible for cleanup of the property. EPA will oversee the work. The estimated cost of cleanup is $48.1 million.