Earthen Materials Mining Site
Western Washington
The site is occupied as a surface-oriented construction sand and gravel mine, sorted earthen aggregate storage, and cement processing plant. The purpose for the ASTM Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) practice is to define good commercial and customary practice in the United States of America for conducting an ESA of commercial and / or residential real estate with respect to the range of contaminants within the scope of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 U.S.C 9601) and petroleum products. The assessment included performing interviews and contacting individuals with knowledge of current and past land use practices. Standard historical sources were researched, such as readily available government agency files, historical topography maps, city directories, surveys, Sanborn maps, and historical aerial photographs.
A professional opinion was made for the presence or absence of recognized environmental conditions related to soil vapor, sediment, soil, and groundwater.
An ASTM compliant environmental records search report was made from available federal, state, and local environmental databases, geocoded and depicted on an area locator map for reported and suspected contaminated sites on the project site and at established ASTM search distances from the project site. A site visit was performed on the project site and a cursory assessment was made on surrounding land uses on contiguous property with likely connection to the project site.
A few very small surface spills of diesel fuel and motor / hydraulic oil was observed on the ground surface next to the delivery hose of a 250-gallon diesel fuel AST west of the shop, around a few outside stored drums and totes at the obsolete equipment storage yards, and around truck storage areas. It was the opinion of the writer that the assessment did not reveal supporting evidence of RECs on the project site at the time of the ESA. It was also the opinion of the writer that the assessment did not reveal supporting evidence off-site RECs to be a REC with likely connection to the project site at the time of the assessment. It was recommended to perform an inventory of the contents in drums, totes, pails, poly tanks, vessels, and cans and to determine how to properly manage all of these containers to prevent a possible source of soil and / or surface water contamination in the future should these be breached.
