With the addition of funds by the Alaska Legislature into next year’s budget, treated soil at the former Byford junkyard site will be shifted to a staging area for transport off-island.
For decades used as a private scrapyard, the four-acre site was significantly contaminated with lead, petroleum and other toxins by the time it became the subject of an extensive cleanup led by the Department of Environmental Conservation in 2016. While 62 containers of the most heavily contaminated materials and debris were shipped southward for disposal, the increasing magnitude of the cleanup meant more than 18,000 cubic yards of lead-infused soil still remained to be dealt with, despite the project already well over budget.
The material was mixed with a phosphate-based compound to chemically stabilize it, while the federal Environmental Protection Agency helped DEC design a more cost-effective alternative for its disposal. A designated monofill was eventually proposed, to be situated at a rock pit maintained by Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources and maintained in perpetuity.
While the science behind it seemed sound, local concerns about the project’s long-term impact on water quality at the nearby Pats Creek fluvial system were such that DEC put the second phase of the Byford project on hold late last summer. Efforts by the local tribal and borough governments to find additional sources of funding or optional project sites during the interim seemed fruitless, and the monofill’s construction was planned to resume this spring.
The difference in
cost between funding left available for the monofill and the estimated cost to ship the
remaining material off-island was around $5 million. In light of its ongoing budget deficit – slated to run $700 million in FY19, even after tapping into Permanent Fund earnings –
the state seemed an unlikely source for that extra funding. However, an appeal by Gov. Bill Walker for the amount was taken up by the House and Senate, being included earlier this month in the final budget. That is expected to be signed by the governor sometime in June, ahead of the next fiscal year’s start on July 1.
Rather than pulling it
from the state’s general fund, the money will instead come from the DEC’s emergency response fund, which is drawn from a percentage of production royalties and is used primarily for petroleum spill cleanups.
With the first phase of the Byford project costing $6.5 million, the monofill phase was allotted around $5.7 million. Of that, site preparation and other associated costs have left less than $4 million remaining of the original appropriation. With the additional $5 million the DEC should be able to change course on the project, being able to afford shipment of the material off-island.
Forging ahead, DEC regional unit manager Sally Schlichting confirmed Tuesday that a contract has been worked out and the project’s costs should be covered.
“We’ve issued a contract to NRC to do the shipping and disposal,” she said. NRC Alaska had been the primary contractor involved in the 2016 site cleanup.
At a cost of $8.99 million, Schlichting reported NRC would be transporting the soil in nine cubic yard reinforced sacks using Heko Services for barging. Moving 25 of the enclosed sacks from the former Byford site by truck per day, contractors would stage them at the former Silver Bay Logging mill yard. From there they would be taken up in about three loads, shipped southward to Arlington, Oregon for final disposal.
“That project’s going to roll out next week,” she said. Schlichting expected the project should wrap up by the end of September.
The newly-allotted funds may still fall short of the final cost, she added. “It’s pretty close. There’ll be a little bit of additional money that we’ll need to get,” most likely from the same spill response fund. The DEC’s commissioner would have the authority to tap the fund for the amount without any additional input needed from legislators.
As a preliminary effort, contractors will make use of some of the stockpiled rock already located at the formerly planned monofill site. Some truck traffic can be expected on the Pats Creek road system this weekend, so drivers ought to exercise caution. Afterward, trucks will only be moving on the highway, between the cleanup site and the mill yard staging area.
Project leads assigned to the project are currently updating cost estimates to transport the material to Oregon for final processing. Depending on whether newly allotted and remaining funds would together cover the total cost, more funds may still be required to complete the cleanup.
Depending on how much money may be required, Rogers said DEC would likely approach the Legislature for approval.
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