Tom Johnson found 80-100 1 oz to 2 L jars of abandoned chemicals on his easement next to his property near Belfair, Washington on Monday 6/2/08. Tom had not seen them when he was on the property 3 weeks earlier. He immediately notified Sgt Ted Jackson of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Ted went to the property on Tuesday 6/3/08 and tested one bottle for methamphetamine but found negative results. No labels on jars indicated that the chemicals had been used to make methamphetamine. Sgt Ted Jackson called Mike Osweiler of the Washington Department of Ecology on Tuesday. Mike Osweiler visited the site on Thursday 6/5/08 with Jason Czebotar from Washington Fish and Wildlife. They saw that one of the jars was labeled cyanide and one was labeled muriatic acid. Some of the bottles of liquids had crystalized. Many were missing lids and were tipped over. A blanket had been laid over the top of the jars. Before Osweiler left he put a tarp over the chemicals to keep off the rain. No waterways appeared to be involved. The property is private and undeveloped property and believed to be owned by Susan Mays with easement held by Tom Johnson.
On 6/5/08 Mike Osweiler asked EPA to handle the removal action due to the number of containers and resources they anticipated would be needed. WDOE emailed 5 photos of the chemicals to EPA. The site was assigned to OSC Kathy Parker. Due to the unstable nature of the containers and the potential toxicity and danger to humans and the environment from the chemicals, plans were immediately made to visit the site on Saturday 6/7/08 and mobilize contractors for a removal action on Monday 6/9/08.
