Asbestos, PCBs at former aluminum smelter pose risks to people

(July 23, 2020) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that on Monday July 27, it will begin ‘time-critical’ cleanup actions at the Former Kaiser Smelter Site, in Mead, just north of downtown Spokane.

The work will reduce or eliminate risks to people, nearby homes and businesses, and the environment posed by asbestos, PCBs, and other chemicals.

During the first phase of this work crews managed by EPA’s Emergency Management Branch will remove PCBs and asbestos-contaminated materials from the 170-acre, developed portion of the site. This part of the site has many large, deteriorating structures and waste piles. 

The second phase will remove contaminated water and sediment from settling ponds on a 400-acre, undeveloped part of the site, north of the former plant. These ponds are full and actively releasing PCBs to Deadman Creek — a tributary of the Little Spokane River – at levels hundreds of times higher than state water quality standards. Thus, the ponds pose a threat of a larger release of toxic PCBs to the watershed. This work will help protect fish, people who eat fish, and other important elements of the watershed ecosystem.

EPA expects work will wrap up by late December.

In 2019, at the request of the Washington Department of Ecology, EPA conducted field sampling at the site and found very high levels of a number of hazardous chemicals, including cancer-causing PCBs, PAHs, and asbestos-containing materials. These substances pose health risks to people who visit the site and are unaware of the danger.

Work will begin on or around July 27 and is expected to be completed by late December. The current cleanup plans include removing:

• Highly contaminated building siding;
• Siding material that has sloughed off onto the ground;
• Friable asbestos-containing pipe insulation;
• Piles of leftover toxic material; and
• Contaminated water and sediment from the settling ponds and stormwater conveyance system.

For more about the work at the Former Kaiser Smelter Site in Mead go to:  https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=14546

We are scheduling a Task Force meeting on short notice for one agenda item that is time sensitive.  It will be a short zoom meeting to discuss and hopefully approve the PCBs in products database development Phase 1 scope of work received from Kyle Shimabuku at Gonzaga University.  This work is being recommended by the TSCA work group.  We discussed this topic at the last Task Force meeting.  In summary this work will help in determining the sufficiency of available data to include in a database.  

Please email lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com to receive the Zoom meeting link. The meeting will be at 1 pm.

Meeting document:

GU Phase I SOW Final

EPA Announces $6 Billion in New Funding for Water Infrastructure Projects

Funding availability builds on 24 WIFIA loans issued under President Trump financing nearly $12 billion in water infrastructure and creating 25,000 jobs

WASHINGTON (July 14, 2020) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the 2020 notice of funding availability under its Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, including funding for the new State infrastructure financing authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program. These funding programs accelerate investment in critical water infrastructure through innovative and flexible financing that can support diverse projects in both large and small communities. This year’s funding will provide up to $6 billion to support $12 billion in water infrastructure projects while creating more than 35,000 jobs and improving public health and environmental protection in communities across the country.

“EPA’s WIFIA loan program has become one of the most effective tools used in President Trump’s efforts to upgrade our nation’s infrastructure, create jobs and safeguard public health and the environment,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This new round of $6 billion in funding comes in time to help communities that are trying to recover from the health and financial stress of the COVID-19 pandemic and, for the first time, includes funding expressly available to states.”

To date, EPA has issued 24 WIFIA loans totaling $5.3 billion in credit assistance to help finance $11.7 billion for water infrastructure projects while creating 25,000 jobs—including eight WIFIA loans closed and one refinanced from March 2020 through June 2020. These recent loan closings will save ratepayers over $1 billion compared to typical bond financing while supporting the financial health of vital water systems. This financial support came at a critical time as the federal government, EPA and the water sector worked together to help mitigate the public health and financial impacts of COVID-19.

This announcement marks the fourth round of WIFIA funding. This year’s notice of funding availability prioritizes construction-ready projects in three areas: updating aging infrastructure; reducing exposure to lead and addressing emerging contaminants; and water reuse and recycling. The 2020 notice of funding availability builds upon the existing, active pipeline of WIFIA projects, which includes 49 projects in 19 states and D.C. For the first time, the agency will evaluate submitted projects using additional criteria that were developed to help clarify project and federal budgetary considerations. EPA will accept letters of interest from prospective WIFIA borrowers for 90 days after publication in the Federal Register.

EPA is also, for the first time, providing funds under SWIFIA. This new program, which was authorized by Congress as part of the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018, offers low-interest loans to state water infrastructure programs (e.g., the State Revolving Funds) that then help finance needed water infrastructure projects in local communities. This round of funding will provide SWIFIA borrowers up to $1 billion to support $2 billion in water infrastructure projects. EPA will accept letters of interest from state water infrastructure programs for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Background

Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan and guarantee program at EPA that aims to accelerate investment in the nation’s water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental loans for regionally and nationally significant projects.

WIFIA credit assistance can be used for a wide range of projects, including:

• drinking water treatment and distribution projects;
• wastewater conveyance and treatment projects;
• enhanced energy efficiency projects at drinking water and wastewater facilities;
• desalination, aquifer recharge, alternative water supply, and water recycling projects; and
• drought prevention, reduction, or mitigation projects.

EPA will evaluate proposed projects described in the letters of interest using WIFIA’s statutory and regulatory criteria as described in the notice of funding availability. Through this competitive process, EPA will select projects that it intends to fund and invite them to continue the application process. 

For more information about WIFIA and this funding announcement, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wifia.