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Quincy does we!l at
math competttton
Pioneer Elementary teams take
top honors at math championship.
see page 8
i,
10 pages
48, Number 47
ST-
Quincy, Washington
USPS No 453-080.
The Quincy Valley
GISTER
Thursday, May 1, 1997
50 cents
tizens concerned about Mayor's actions
by Jennifer R. Diamond
citizens
last Thursday evening to
r May~PattyMartin's
in a children's health
waste and
fcrtlizer issues.
In February, the Mayor attended
Conference in Washington, D.C.
by the Children's Envi-
I Health Network. A memo
the Department of Ecology
Martin testified there were
~uincy. It
possibly a result
being
Martin told the audience she did
Mayor of Quincy,
as the mayor of a small town in
Several citizens were concerned
Bto whether the mayor attended the
with the knowledge of
city council. The council said
were only aware of the mayor
to Washington, D.C., and not
she was attending the confer-
Greg Richardson, an area grower,
behalf of the State Potato
and the Potato Grow-
of Washington. He said the
dealings with the Depart-
and untrustworthy. He said
was a misuse of office
~1 she used her position as Mayor
l°get into high places to express her
/
Po~1-R~gister photo by Jenn~f~ R. OlamorKI
Councilman Tony Gonzales reads from an internal Department of Ecology memo which stated the
mayor, while at a children's health conference, testified there were possible contaminates in Quincy
soil as a result of hazardous waste in fertilizer.
"This room is full of successful
good fertilizer," he
~id. "The whole community is at
risk and the proper authorities are deal'
ing with the situation already."
Richardson said the mayor's current
contact with a Seattle Times reporter,
Duff Wilson, is cause for concern.
"We appreciate your concern, but
Washington has taken a lead in clean
environment activities," he said.
please see Meeting on page 3
OE hosts special informational meeting
by Diamond
group of nearly 250 concerned
gathered Wednesday
to listen to the Department of
(DOE) explain a hazardous
pond problems
of Cenex property.
representatives fielded ques-
the audience on several is-
:~nd concerns. Some questions
of time the DOE has
how was
allowed to be built next to a
why is it within limits,
director
! eastern regio0, presented a photo
;in August of 1991. He
DOE didn't know about the
site until then, when it
Cenex. The current site
t~to existence in 1974, when it
by Western Farm Service,
purchasedthecom-
1982 and constructed the rin-
The rinsate pond use
in the fall of 1989,
. Cenex discontinued use of
plant near the rinsate
some tanks were removed or
part of the site.
environmental and
~IP-,eialist for Cenex, explained
company as a retail
of petroleum and farm sup-
:Said the company has been pro-
:the site and the clean-
attempting to identify
the site and we are
it cleaned up," he
~SChler said the rinsate pond was
Cenex time-line and clean up
1974-Western Farm Service, Inc.
(WFS), was established to distribute
liquid fer~lizers and sog fumigants. The
fumigant tanks were located on a con-
crete slab and an earthen berm was
installed at some later date. A large
fumigant spill dudng 1982 (date uncer-
tain) is suspected.
1982-Cenex acquires the WFS opera.
tion and continues to distdbute liquid
fertilizers and soil fumigants.
Spring, 1986-Rinsepad and concrete
containment structure constructed.
A spray system was later installed and
contamination of the soils surrounding
the containment structure probably oc-
curred during the time the spray system
was in use.
Fall, 1989--The use of the rinsate col-
lection pond was discontinued.
January, 1990-Pond sludge was
sampled by Cenex end analyzed for
pesticides. The results detected five
pesticides.
March, 1990-Rinsate pond was
cleaned out and the water and the
sludge, were disposed of (field applied).
The concrete walls of the pond were
collapsed and the area was filled with
Soil.
'1991-Operation of the fumigant plant
ended,
Aug. 28, l~l-Ecology's Hazardous
Waste Inspector inspected Cenex's fa-
cilities in Quincy.
April 6, 1992-Ecology issued Cenex
an Order, requiring Cenex to develop
and implement a site assessment plan.
July 24, 1992-First draft of the Site
Assessment Plan for Rinsate Pond and
Fumigant Plant was prepared by Cenex.
Dec. 23,1992-Second draft of the Site
Assessment Plan was completed by
Cenex.
May 11,1993--The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency (EPA) conducted a site
assessment of the area in and around the
former rinsate containment structure.
Sludge and soil samples were collected
end submitted for analysis.
May 18, 1993-Third draft of the Site As-
sessment Plan was completed by Cenex.
This draft did not receive a formal review by
Ecology.
May 19, 1993-Ecology issued an amend.
ment to their order requiring Cenex to sub-
mit a revised assessment plan.
March 4, 1994-Ecology received assess-
ment report prepared by Ecology and En-
vironment, Inc.
March 23, 1994-Sampling and analysis
plan for the fumigant tanks was prepared.
Aug. 30, 1994-Fumigant tanks sampled.
Dec. 15, 1994-Contaminatian removed
from fumigant tanks. Tanks cleaned and
scrapped. More than 11 tons of contami-
nated material was removed from the site
and disposed of In Utah.
Feb. 26, 1995-Fourth draft of the Site
Assessment Plan was completed by
Cenex.
April 7, 1995-Fifth and final draft of the
Site Assessment Plan was completed.
JuneT-8,1 ~-Soil samplingin and around
the rinsate pond and the fumigant plant
areas are taken.
Sept. 14-15,1 985-Soil sampling was done
beneath the floors of the dnsate pond and
the fumigant plant.
Dec. 1995--Four monitoring wells were
ddlled and completed.
June 21, 1996--First water samples were
collacted and sent for analysis.
Aug. 19-20, 1996-Monitoring wells five,
six end seven were drilled and completed.
Sept. 4,1996-Officlals detected an error in
their analyses for beryllium. Samples were
rasul0mitted.
Sept. 13, 1996-Letter to initiate registra-
tion of the site under the Model Toxics
Control Act (MTCA) was prepared.
Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, 1996-Monitoring wells
eight and nine were drilled and com-
pleted.
eel 14-15, 1996-Water samples col-
lected from monitoring wells and sent
for analyses.
Nov. 7,1996-Complete set of indexed
site documents were delivered to Grant
County Health and the City of Quincy.
Revision and additions were sent to
both Grant County Health and the City
of Quincy on Jan. 29, 1997, Feb. 13,
1997 and March 21, 1997.
Nov. 20, 1996--Meeting held to discuss
future work to be performed.
Dec., 1996-Cenex assigned the project
to West Central Environmental Con-
sultants.
Feb. 19, 1997-Cenex sends first draft
of MTCA Agreed Order to Ecology.
Tentative Schedule for Quincy Site
Cleanup
May-Stabilize surface soils to prevent
wind bome transport of soil from site.
Removal of two soil piles and the upper
one foot of soil from the site for disposal
at a special, regulated waste landfill.
Fresh gravel will be spread over the site
as a temporary cap. A third round of
groundwater samples taken from exist-
ing wells. Additional soil samplastaken
from school property and tested for her-
bicide and pesticide residue. Small
scale pilot tests to obtain information
about groundwater movement and per-
meability of the soil.
June-Submittal of Draft Remedial In-
vestigation Report to Ecology. The
report will be reviewed and finalized
during the summer months.
July-Draft Feasibility Study submitted
to Ecology. In late July, another public
meeting may be held to discuss the
various cleanup options considered for
the site.
September-Installation and implemen-
tation of the cleanup system.
constructed to prevent ground contami-
nation and to recycle fertilizer. Unfor-
tunately the idea didn't work well and
the company was left with 55,000 gal-
lons of useless fertilizers mixtures. He
said these same types of facilities were
built all over the U.S.
"The pesticide was put in there to be
please see Cenex on page 3
Board begins to
work out details
by Jennifer R. Diamond
The school board met Monday
evening to discuss the educational speci-
fications for the proposed bond improve-
ments and new school construction.
Gary Dinwoodie, from ALSC Ar-
chitects, presented the f~rst educational
specifications which basically set a bud-
get for each modernization and con-
strucfion.
"This gives us the first responsible
look," he said. "One thing will not
change and that is the end result."
The board will review each of the
specifications during a special board
meeting work session scheduled for May
7 at 7 p.m.
Jerry Eide, regional manager for West
Central Environmental Consultants, re-
quested Quincy Junior High students
be kept indoors during the removal of
soil from the Cenex hazardous waste
area. The removal process began
Wednesday evening and is expected to
be completed on Friday.
The board selected Brian Fitch as the
new Mtn. View principal and Cindy
Bunton as the Special Education Direc-
ts.
All of the principals in the district
gave presentations reviewing April ac-
tivities at their schools.
The Junior High reported a success-
ful wellness day, with more than 500
students participating.
They also presented information on
the canoe safety class they currently
offer.
Bill Higgins, principal at Quincy
Junior High, announced Teresa Goninan
as the teacher of the year in the North
Central Washington District.
The Junior High first place Odyssey
of the Minds team shared their state
competition experience. The team took
fhst place in regionals and eighth place
at state.
A community problem solving team
presented their problem which earned
them first place.
The team problem was the Petri
Ford building. The group of eight stu-
dents researched the property, contacted
potential buyers and contacted the owner
of the property. They said the property
owner has reported there are interested
buyers in the property, but as of yet
there is no sale.
The team has also been invited to
Hanover, Mich., for the National Prob-
lem Solving Competition.
A second problcra solving te~n chose
hunger in the community as their prob-
lem. They helped load food for the food
bank and organized food drives in the
schools. They also took first place in
their division.
The Pioneer report was given in pan
by the winning Math Is Cool champi-
onship teams.
Lelia Coghill, principal for Pioneer,
said they are also experimenting with a
new report card.
The high school reported the TSA
club swept the state competition last
month in Cheney. Four TSA students
have been elected as state officers and
the team has been invited to Washing-
ton, D.C., to compete in the National
Competition.
llnside.., j
Records ................. 2 Valley Schools ..... 8 I
Weather .... . ............. 2 Classifieds .......... 9 |
Glance Back ........ 2 Valley Business 10 |
News Briefs ......... 3 I Weather Ahead i •
o,um :" ....... ........ 11
Joyce Edie ....... ,...5 I .I l
