The site is located in Seattle, Washington on approximately one half acre of relatively flat terrain. Certified Cleaning Services (CCS) leases this piece of land from Fremont Associates. CCS is a company based in Tacoma, Washington, and provides steam cleaning and vacuum truck services. CCS uses the Seattle site strictly for the storage of vacuum trucks and wash pumps. Tri States is a construction company based out of Bellevue, Washington. Tri States shares the half acre land with CCS, and uses the area for storage of trucks and tools.
November 6, 2002 (Wednesday):
On November 6, 2002, EPA OSC Dan Heister contacted START-2 about a possible diesel oil release in Seattle, Washington. OSC Heister was contacted by an anonymous employee of CCS. The anonymous employee claimed that CCS used unsafe and dangerous practices, and was responsible for a 1100-1500 gallon diesel oil spill from a 50-foot vacuum truck on site. The employee claimed that the manager on site knew about the spill, and tried to cover up all the existing evidence with fresh gravel. OSC Heister tasked START to conduct a site investigation, to possibly take some samples, and to provide photo documentation.
START-2 arrived on site at 2040 hours along with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). The anonymous employee arrived on site at 2050 hours with a bodyguard. At 2060, Ecology, START-2, and the employee along with his bodyguard made an entry to the site. No strong odors were present. After digging with a shovel in various areas on site, small amounts of oil with a sheen were present on the surface. START-2 conducted air monitoring on site, but no positive readings were recorded from the area with the highest concentration of oil on the surface. Ecology took six samples from the ground surface, and two samples from the suspect vacuum truck. The suspect vacuum truck was located at the fence area separating CCS from Tri States. The suspect vacuum truck and two others did not have placards.
At 2200 hours, Ecology and START-2 were led to the Duwamish River by the anonymous employee to determine if runoff may have occurred as a result of the oil release. Accessibility was an issue, and without a boat, access would not be possible to the Duwamish River. From a bridge above the river, START-2 and Ecology observed no sheen on the Duwamish River. The START-2 and Ecology concluded that another effort would be made in the morning to determine if runoff was present, and possibly to take water samples. At 2400 hours, START-2, Ecology, and the anonymous employee with bodyguard left the site.
EPA requested that START return and work with Ecology on 10/07/02 to assess any impact to the Duwamish River overnight.
November 7, 2002 (Thursday):
EPA OSC, Andy Smith, and START-2 staff, Lee Shin and Joe Fowlow met with two officers from the Port of Seattle Police Department and Washington Department of Ecology Assistant On-Scene Coordinator, Charles Gregory . The police officers motored a boat up the Duwamish River to the area directly behind the CCS site that was potentially impacted by the release. No oil sheen was observed on the water. At 1130 hours, OSC Smith and START-2 spoke with two tribal fishermen who had been fishing in the area in close proximity to CCS. The fishermen stated that they had not seen any oil sheen on the surface for the past two weeks. They added that when oil is present, it gets on the floats for the fishing nets and there was no oil on the floats.
At 1300 hours, OSC Smith and Ecology's Gregory walked to the site from a nearby boat dock to get more information involving the CCS site. The property is leased by Fremont Associates to three different businesses. OSC Smith and Ecology called Certified Cleaning Services using the telephone number on the side of two trucks parked on the property. Dan Nobel, the manager, and an employee, Bob James, quickly showed up. Mr. Nobel and Mr. James were told EPA and Ecology were investigating an anonymous spill report. They admitted that there was a spill but they estimate it to be 10 gallons as opposed to the 1100 gallon as stated by the anonymous employee. The truck in question was no longer present but, Mr. Nobel described what he believes might have happened. He stated that the valve was possibly left open by a disgruntled employee. He showed how the valves were spring loaded such that valves can not be partially left open. The valve on the truck in question was not outfitted with spring lever such that the valve could have been left cracked open slightly. Mr. Nobel said he did not believe much material was spilled because the tank gauge registered no discernable difference in quantity. From observations made, there did not appear to have been much product spilled. Some red-colored product could be seen only in one spot on the surface of the ground after pushing gravel to one side. It was concluded that there was no impact on the local waterways from the spill.
All planned removal activites have been completed.
Subsequent to the spill response, Ecology has been overseeing CCS's efforts to clean up and remove the spilled diesel. CCS has removed the
grossly contaminated gravel with a backhoe and staged it on site wrapped in plastic pending analytical results. CCS has indicated that the
gravel will be properly profiled and disposed.
There is some residual contamination that was not removed with the grossly contaminated gravel.
CCS is recovering the residual contamination by periodically flooding the area with water and immediately vacuuming up the flood water and any
mobilized product with a vacuum truck. When additional flooding fails to mobilize additional product the site will shift from the Spills
Program to Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program (TCP). TCP oversees longer term cleanups that are generally not an immediate threat to the
environment.
A key issue was accessiblity to the Duwamish River.
Rain might have affected the amount of diesel oil on the surface.
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