Events 2013

[eridani]

73. Public meeting on Radioactive Contamination at Magnuson Park Seattle 5/29

Radioactive Contamination at Magnuson Park
Public Meeting
Wednesday May 29th
Question and Answer at 7 PM
5 PM - 8 PM Open House
at The Mountaineers
(7700 Sand Point Way NE - left after enter main gate)
Contaminated areas include area around, and building attached to, the building housing Arena Sports and Magnuson Athletic Club (Building 27)
Meeting is your chance to learn about the contamination and
give input on cleanup

There are serious problems and public input is essential

Magnuson Park has a contamination problem which hasn't been disclosed to the public for the past four years. And, it is serious - involving radioactive contamination in the soils around, and the building attached to, the hangar housing Arena Sports and the Magnuson Park Athletic Club. There is also contamination in and around Building 2, which had been the indoor soccer facility prior to Arena Sports moving.

Please join me Wednesday evening (May 29th) at a public meeting and open house about the contamination, at The Mountaineers (7700 Sand Point Way NE - enter main park entrance, take immediate left). The Open House with the Navy, Seattle Parks and Washington Ecology begins at 5 PM; and, I have asked them to take questions from you and respond at 7 PM.

The contamination was discovered in 2009 and 2010. However, the Navy, Seattle Parks and WA Dept. of Health agreed amongst themselves not to put up signs which would warn the public that the areas they were fencing off had any contamination problems, or that the building attached to Building 27 (Arena Sports, indoor soccer and the athletic club) had radioactive contamination.

Contamination above safe levels includes radioactive Radium, Strontium and Cesium, in addition to pesticides and lead. The radioactive contamination stems from Navy use of radium paint for dials when the Park was Sand Point Naval Air Station.

Like many of you, my son plays soccer regularly at Building 27 and around the building. We never suspected that the area fenced off around the south end of the building was due to radioactive contamination. Today, the public doesn't expect that there would be contaminated areas outside the fenced area. Yet, the agencies have refused to put up signs noting that the fence is there due to contamination.

Earlier this year, the Navy expected to begin its cleanup without any public review and comment on its cleanup plans. The Washington Department of Ecology, which is supposed to oversee all hazardous waste cleanups in Washington State, responded to my request and is preparing a public participation plan. However, they are still relying on information and notice from the Navy - whose materials include misleading statements implying that the only radioactive contamination is Alpha radiation, which can be stopped by paper or a layer of dirt (although it is highly dangerous if ingested or in contact with skin).

However, radioactive Strontium 90, Cesium and forms of Radium which give off Gamma radiation, which can penetrate walls or soil, are also present.

Contaminated areas include soils around the buildings and under parking areas; and, may extend to the Lake Washington shoreline sediments where storm drains discharge.

The proposed timing of the cleanup will also overlap with the reconstruction of Sand Point Way NE, with road detours at the same time that hundreds of truckloads of radioactively contaminated soil and debris may be leaving the Park this summer.

From reviewing the cleanup plan, I am very concerned that the Navy's plan would leave radioactive contamination at levels 80 to 240 times the acceptable cancer risk allowed for children at hazardous waste cleanup sites under Washington's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA). The Navy's plan - which would allow future exposures to 15 millirem of radiation per year from Radium and Strontium - does not even reference our state cleanup standards.

I'll be calling for:
1.Cleanup to meet our state's stricter cancer risk cleanup standards to reduce exposures to meet our state's cleanup standards and increase cleanup as appropriate for a public park - where children play and future park users and residents may have vegetable or herb gardens;
2.Investigation of whether there is contamination of the sediments in Lake Washington around the storm sewer outfalls and along the drain lines;
3.Not trucking wastes on detour routes, or when there are backups, during Sand Point Way NE construction;
4.Public input into development of a Public Participation Plan by Washington's Department of Ecology (including notice and signage about the contamination); and,
5.Ecology taking regulatory authority over the cleanup.
You can send your comments or questions to: [email protected]
For more information, Ecology's website for project information will be: https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/gsp/sitepage.aspx?csid=1359

Thank you for caring about our community,