Ecology gives the Spokane airport one more try...

February 15, 2024

“Morning at the park” (2017)

Thursday's West Plains "forever chemicals" (PFAS) news

Washington’s Department of Ecology reports it has granted its final extension to the Spokane International Airport to reach a cleanup plan settlement with the state. The extension will allow the airport an additional 30 days in which to conclude negotiations with Ecology to determine the scope of the remedial investigation and ensuing feasibility study to address toxic PFAS contamination in soil and groundwater at the airport. If, after 30 days, an agreement is still out of reach, Ecology says it will proceed with a unilateral enforcement order.

In a letter attorney Brian Werst sent to Ecology last Wednesday, SIA requested an additional 60 days (an initial 60-day extension request had been approved by Ecology in mid-November) to try to resolve what it sees as “conflicts with the Airport’s ability to comply with” Federal Aviation Administration requirements. Werth also reported he’d contacted FAA directly to seek the federal agency’s participation in finalizing the cleanup agreement with Ecology.

Ecology responded yesterday with a letter from Jeremy Schmidt, a site manager for the SIA remedial action. Wrote Schmidt:

“Since no substantive comments have been received regarding the AO [Agreed Order], Ecology understands the remaining significant issue is the compatibility of SIA’s Federal Aviation Administration certification with the AO under negotiation. As this topic was raised by SIA more than two months ago, Ecology believes ample time has passed and concludes this evaluation must be completed within 30 days. To date, Ecology has not encountered this issue of certification at our other airport cleanup projects.”

The two letters, as well as a summary of Ecology’s mandate and approach to the SIA PFAS cleanup, are available on-line here.

(One editorial correction: In Sunday’s dispatch From Victims to Victories I mistakenly referred to Jeremy as “Eric” Schmidt. My apologies to Jeremy (and to you) for the glitch and not catching the mistake in my proof-reading.)

From here, on down, I’m adding commentary/opinion to the above news report.

1) I don’t understand Ecology’s lenience in granting the additional 30-day extension of negotiations. For starters, SIA officials have known about PFAS contamination since 2017, and did nothing to report it to Ecology or local health officials, not to mention nearby residents who may have had their drinking water contaminated by PFAS from the airport. I can’t make this point often enough: the disclosure of the PFAS at SIA was through a citizen public records request, not a proactive disclosure by airport officials.

As Schmidt notes in his reply to SIA, the issue of compatibility with FAA regulations was apparently raised in early December. But it’s only now that SIA is requesting additional time to involve FAA officials in resolving an issue that, according to Schmidt’s letter, other Washington airports don’t seem to think is an issue. Time is of the essence. Had SIA officials followed the Air Force’s lead at nearby Fairchild Air Force Base and disclosed the discovery of PFAS in their monitoring wells, the cleanup and remedial actions to help nearby well owners would likely be in place by now.

2) To Ecology’s credit, the state agency did reach out to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and succeeded in gaining EPA involvement and financial assistance to offer free well water testing to West Plains residents down-gradient from SIA. Under the circumstances (see point 1, above) this really is a big deal. There is already evidence of contamination of private wells in the area east of Hayford Road which is outside the zone in which the Air Force is providing private well testing and water or filtration systems to those whose well water tests out at above 70 parts per trillion for PFAS. EPA is also involved in discussions that are most likely to result in further assistance to well owners testing positive for PFAS in the area beyond the zone covered by the Air Force.

Lastly, Ecology’s public involvement coordinator Erika Beresovoy reports the on-line well test sign-up form for well owners in the red-shaded area of the map, above, will be available here beginning Wednesday, February 22nd. The gray-shaded area on the map is the zone in which Fairchild AFB currently provides assistance for well-testing and remedial actions.

—tjc

Reporting on the West Plains “forever chemical” problem is provided free as a public service. Please consider a paid subscription to The Daily Rhubarb if you are able and would like to support this work.

P.S. I hadn’t planned on writing this morning. There is still a backlog of ordinary things to attend to on the heels of Covid recovery and the work that went into The Preposterous Spokane Flood event at Hamilton Studio at the start of the month. That said, I am pleased to disclose I finished my Xmas shopping, Monday, just as darkness was setting in. In that blissful but distracted state, I somehow dropped my wallet on or near Main Avenue. Blessedly, a good Samaritan found it overnight and delivered it intact to a nearby restaurant. So there you are, even in the dregs of February, even before the crocuses and balsamroot blossoms arise, hope for humankind…