
Tacoma steam plant no. 2
Owner: Port of Tacoma
Services Provided
- Hazardous Materials Assessment
- Project Design and Bid Specifications Preparation
- Industrial Hygiene
- Construction Abatement Monitoring
- Storage Tank Assessment and Closure
- Site Specific Health and Safety Plan
EHSI performed hazardous materials management and compliance services for the Port of Tacoma at the Steam Plant No. 2 site. Site improvements consisted of eight buildings, including the stack, cooling towers, and turbine building, and 22 tanks with unknown contents which were scheduled to be demolished. The ”limited hazardous materials survey” entailed sample collection of asbestos-containing materials (ACM) from building materials and debris, lead-containing materials, visual inspection of fluorescent light ballasts for PCBs, quantification of mercury-containing light tubes and high-intensity discharge light bulbs, sampling and identification of unidentified liquids and residues from tanks, drums, and miscellaneous materials from debris piles and emission stack residue.
EHSI’s Environmental Health and Safety Specialist and Certified Industrial Hygienist prepared a Site Specific Health and Safety Plan to prepare for specific hazards inherent to this phase of the project including: dust from ACM, damaged cylinders containing unknown compressed gases, debris piles of spent stack filter bags of known and unknown bases; and particulate exposure from potentially contaminated soils (heavy metals, dioxins, halogenated organic compounds). EHSI sampled and characterized all suspect hazardous materials and waste streams. Due to our extensive and aggressive sampling and analysis plan, EHSI was able to fully characterize the extensive piles of demolition debris located in the turbine building which had been partially demolished under the previous ownership. These efforts resulted in an approximate $1M savings to the Port of Tacoma in asbestos abatement costs.
EHSI’s Certified AHERA Project Designers prepared cost estimates and abatement specifications and drawings for the removal of all identified hazardous materials and regulated wastes. EHSI’s Project Manager provided support to the Port of Tacoma during pre-bid conferences and the source selection process. EHSI personnel conducted construction administration and third party oversight in support of the Port of Tacoma during all site abatement, confirmed conformance with abatement and demolition plans, regulatory requirements and verified waste stream quantities.