The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)/Washington State Ferries (WSF) inherited a contaminated site in the 1960s that is now home to WSF’s Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility. The Wykoff/Eagle Harbor Superfund Site’s contaminants originated from the site’s historic use as a private boatyard from 1902 until WSF purchased the site in the 1960s. Despite not contributing to the site’s status as a "Superfund Site," WSDOT/WSF has worked jointly with the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Navy, PACCAR, and the Washington Department of Natural Resources to cleanup the Wyckoff/Eagle Harbor Superfund Site. Approximately $35 million dollars has been spent since 1988 to cleanup the superfund site contaminants. Chemical and biological monitoring of the harbor has confirmed that these extensive cleanup efforts have dramatically improved environmental conditions in the harbor. In fact, the improved health of fish in Eagle Harbor marks this sediment cleanup as one of the most successful projects ever performed. WSDOT/WSF and other land stewards ensure the continued effectiveness of the cleanup by means of an Operations, Maintenance, and Monitoring Plan.
In the late 1990s, WSF purchased additional land to expand WSF’s Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility. In 1997, both WSDOT/WSF and PACCAR treated the area to contain contaminants found in the sediment at this site. Some contaminants were excavated while others were capped. WSDOT/WSF also implemented a monitoring plan, and observe the site on a regular basis with oversight by the EPA. Data has shown that the 1997 cleanup action has successfully reduced the seepage discharge of metals to Eagle Harbor by more than 90 percent. Following a regional earthquake in 2000, WSDOT/WSF detected residual seepage and monitored it to determine the extent of the contamination. The agency found the discharges were highly localized and do not extend beyond the immediate shoreline. In addition, they sampled surface water in the surrounding tributary and the results indicate that concentrations do not exceed state marine water quality standards, nor do they pose a risk to human health. Nonetheless, WSDOT/WSF recently conducted further remediation under the direction of the EPA to isolate the leaching of contaminants, copper and zinc, from the upland areas of the Superfund Site. This work included placement of a membrane, composed of soil and aggregate materials, over the contaminated soils to provide a more effective barrier so tidal waters do not leach these contaminants into the harbor.