Cleanup operations of the former Byford junkyard were initiated by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation late last month. A report of its progress was published on the City and Borough of Wrangell’s website on Monday.
Located alongside 4-Mile Zimovia Highway, the junk yard operated from the 1960s to the 1990s, disposing of more than 1,500 automobiles and a variety of other objects during its run. The property was acquired by the City and Borough of Wrangell through foreclosure in 2009. After receiving the property, in 2010 the city began removing scrap metal from the site, concluding in 2013.
Previously, the yard was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency in August 2000, when a variety of contaminants were detected in the soil. High concentrations of lead, petroleum-based contaminants and other toxins had seeped into the yard from hundreds of batteries, transformers, junked vehicles, tires, drums and containers which had been improperly stored or disposed of there. Follow-up sampling was conducted by the state in 2002 to define impact areas and contamination levels, and to estimate costs for remediation.
Oversight for the Byford yard clean-up operation is through ADEC’s Contaminated Sites Program and the EPA Region 10 Office of Environmental Cleanup.
In his report to the city, DEC environmental program specialist Bruce Wanstall explained work currently is being undertaken by contractors NRC Alaska and NORTECH. Afterward a company specializing in soil treatment will take over that phase of the project, likely next week.
Initial mobilization and site preparation was performed last week, which included surveying the site, setting up work areas and removing some soil and debris.
“There’s a little more of that than expected,” Wanstall said. Drums, soil and other contaminants identified during the process will be shipped offsite for safe disposal.
Through the rest of this week the contractors anticipate installing a water treatment system on-site and preparing placement of a screen plant, which will allow workers to screen and clear contaminated soil as it is removed.
Continuing through the spring and summer, DEC expects to have the bulk of its work complete by the end of 2016. Wrangell learned last September that decontamination would be expected to cost around $3.9 million, to be paid for through the state’s Oil and Hazardous Substance Release Prevention and Response Fund. The response fund of this account is used to respond to pollution posing “an imminent and substantial threat to the public health or welfare, or to the environment.”
The hazard posed by this contamination is its migration via surface water drainages down to the Zimovia Strait shoreline. Testing has identified elevated concentrations of lead and other metals in sediments and fish tissue in the intertidal area downhill of the site. Residents are warned off from clamming and cockling on the beachfront across from the Byford property as a result, while the state Department of Health and Social Services tests to confirm whether metal levels in the local shellfish pose a risk to human health.
A screening-level study of several beaches’ shellfish was undertaken last year by the local Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (IGAP). A report released in August indicated overall results for contaminants fell within normal ranges and did not raise any concerns, though some traces of lead were found in two of the sites.
A shortened link to Wanstall’s eight-page report, with pictures and sketches, is at http://goo.gl/LaquhG. Updates will continue to be posted on the city Public Works webpage, and an overview of the project is at http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/csp/sites/wrang_junkyard.htm
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