Hi folks, thought that some of us who bird SW Washington should be aware of
this.
It was in the Oregonian - of course it wasn't in the Daily 0 in Oly, and I
don't know about the strike papers....

Jon. Anderson
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Toxic plume threatens refuge lake

Friday, November 24, 2000


RIDGEFIELD, Wash. -- A lake worthy of a postcard at the
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge may be contaminated
with toxic chemicals from a long-ago wood-treating plant.

Refuge officials' greatest fear may have come true: An
underground plume of chemical wastes drifting from the
former Pacific Wood Treating plant might have migrated
underneath scenic Carty Lake.

"There was a noticeable odor and an apparent sheen" in
water-table samples taken from three of nine samples from
test holes near the lake's south end, said Jim Maul of Maul
Foster & Alongi, an engineering and environmental
consulting company.

Tests showing the chemical composition of the water
samples, which were taken two weeks ago, are expected
to be completed by mid-December.

The Carty Lake water table tests are the latest step in an
imposing cleanup job for this community of 2,170 residents
about 14 miles north of Portland. The cleanup has been
under way for five years, and with $5 million in state,
federal and Port of Ridgefield money already spent, the
finish line is at least another five years away. The total
price tag is likely to exceed $40 million.

Meanwhile, the ground-water plume is moving in a
northwesterly direction, about 10 feet a year, Maul said.

The slow-moving chemical mass is not believed to be a
health threat to humans, officials said. But it is a potential
time bomb for the refuge's abundant wildlife.

"We've been concerned for a while," said refuge manager
Tom Melanson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
If it isn't cleaned up soon, the plume will seep into the
finger-shaped, 20-acre lake and into the food chain, he
said.

Snakes, frogs, great blue herons, coots and mergansers
populate Carty Lake, which sits on the eastern fringe of the
5,150-acre refuge, home to nesting and wintering bald
eagles, visiting peregrine falcons and Aleutian Canada
geese.

-- Allan Brettmann

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