In 1999, G-Logics was retained by a property-ownership group to review the operational
practices and environmental conditions of three adjacent properties, located within the
floodplain of the Green River in Kent, Washington. The three parcels have been in use for
auto wrecking, auto body storage, metal recycling, and auto-parts sales since the late 1950s.
Numerous areas on the properties are known to be contaminated with petroleum
hydrocarbons (TPH), heavy metals, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The
owner of these properties wanted the tenants to improve their operational practices and to
make efforts to clean up their contamination. Our client also was interested in selling the

property, however, this was complicated by the
heavy contamination known to be present.

G-Logics visited the properties and documented
observed environmental violations and the condition
of the properties. During three separate site visits
(performed over an eight month period), G-Logics
took photographs of numerous poor operational practices that were resulting in soil, groundwater,
and surfacewater contamination. This included no
secondary containment for chemical and parts
 

storage areas, storage tanks on the bare ground, uncovered buckets of fuels, no berms in tear-out areas, automobile batteries on the ground, and large piles of tires and debris. These photographs and a detailed letter were submitted to each of the property tenants describing our site visit observations, recommended improvements, and their required remediation
efforts to address the site contamination. G-Logics also reviewed a purchase and sales agreement prepared by a potential buyer of the three properties. This agreement estimated that soil cleanup costs would be approximately $450,000. G-Logics helped our client identify the key environmental components of the offer and the specific details that were factored into the estimated remediation costs. This review revealed several issues and concern with the proposal, including the fact that shallow groundwater contamination/remediation was not addressed. Additionally, the site mapping prepared by the potential buyer did not adequately show the areas of contamination (known and suspected), thereby reducing the potential for remediation success.

G-Logics also observed that steel slag
materials were being imported and used on one
of the properties as an aggregate work surface.
Upon further investigation of this material,
G-Logics discovered that the slag contained
elevated concentrations of cadmium and
chromium. These concentrations of metals
exceeded the Washington Department of
Ecology MTCA soil cleanup levels. Based on
this information, G-Logics recommended that
the property tenants not import additional slag
materials. This tenant also has been instructed
to remove these materials.

To date, some operational improvements have been implemented on the three properties. However, significant improvement is still required by the tenants to prevent additional contamination. Remedial efforts also are necessary on all three properties to address the existing site contamination.