Airport receives cleanup funds

MOSES LAKE - About $58.25 million in funds were awarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for underground clean up near Moses Lake.

The funds were provided as part of a settlement agreement reached Thursday to handle an industrial solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE, according to the EPA.

The contamination occurred in the 1950s or 1960s, according to a 2008 Columbia Basin Herald article.

TCE is a solvent used to strip paint from airplanes, wash airplane parts and clean missile parts.

The site includes about 1,000 acres of groundwater beneath the former Larson Air Force Base and reaches about four miles towards Moses Lake, according to the EPA. 

The Grant County International Airport and the Cascade Valley are also among the affected area. 

No one has reported becoming ill from the TCE in Grant County.

The federal government pays about $55 million in cleanup funds, with the $3.25 million remainder provided by The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin and the City of Moses Lake.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit brought on by Moses Lake against the Department of Defense, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, said Ted Yackulic, an EPA attorney.

Moses Lake was seeking to recover money to protect their drinking water and had to move wells, Yackulic explained.  

Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski said the city must pay $750,000 for cleanup because the city was viewed as a potential sources of pollutants. The city owns a wastewater treatment facility in that area.

"Their argument is we were drawing TCE in the groundwater," he said. "It is just a theory, no one says it was proven."

Insurance pays for the city's portion of the cleanup costs and attorney fees, he said.

At the same time, the city receives $3 million in damages through the settlement, which will be placed in its water/sewer fund. 

"I am glad the darn thing is over, settling the lawsuit with Grant County and settling the lawsuit with the federal government in about the same month," he commented.

Yackulic, of the EPA, said it's possible construction could start in the spring or summer, lasting between 20 to 25 years.

"We expect contamination levels will go down and shrink in size during that period," he said. 

He thought it was possible there would be a contractor and subcontractors working for the EPA. 

Before the work starts, a required 30-day public comment period and federal court approval must happen.

It's expected the comment period will start around Jan. 1.

For more information, visit www.justice.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html, where information should be posted by Monday.