The Westlake Mercer Cleanup Project
I am cranky. Specifically, I am cranky because I was kept awake last night by the Westlake Mercer Cleanup Project. No, that’s not the name of my neighbor’s math rock band, but rather the official moniker of Conoco’s efforts at the intersection of Westlake and Mercer to cleanup a gasoline line leak.
A leak that occurred in 1980.
Now, you may be thinking, “Well, maybe there’s some gas left after 26 years. Maybe it’s poisoning Paul Allen!” But let me direct your attention to Questions & Answers:
What risks are there to humans and the environment from this contamination?
Environmental investigations indicate that the site has not been shown to pose a risk to human health or the environment.
Okay, so maybe it’s affecting the groundwater?
What impact does the site have on domestic water systems?
The groundwater and soil contamination near the site did not impact the city’s domestic water systems. Additionally, property owners within the area receive their water from the City of Seattle’s municipal water supply.
Okay, okay, but what about Lake Union?
Has the contamination reached Lake Union?
No.
So why the hell is this going on? It’s starting to feel like it is simply to make my life a living hell, because it means that Westlake has been closed (mostly or completely) since I first moved to South Lake Union. With Westlake closed, all northbound traffic connecting to Broad gets shifted onto Fairview, which gets backed up like…well, I can think of a lot of horrible similes here involving the colons of overweight men and vast amounts of red meat, but I’ll leave it to your imagination. And when you live on Fairview and have urgent teriyaki business in Queen Anne, this gets pretty frustrating.
And then, on top of all this indignation, suddenly construction started up last night…at 12:15am. Which means a huge spotlight shining into my bedroom and construction noise all night. And this, my friends, was the last straw for me. When Westlake is already closed off 24/7, what do we gain by having construction at midnight? Especially when the “improvement” part of the project is questionable at best?
None of this makes sense to me–surely I’m missing something, because there’s no way this could be as stupid as it seems. Does anyone out there have some rational explanation for all this?
You can definitely protest the construction noise/lights through DPD (seattle.gov/dpd). I am VERY surprised they have permission to work 24/7. Maybe they don’t.
The property is probably getting ready to be sold and rebuilt. No way could they get a building permit if there was a spill there, even if it is not hazardous. Maybe as a condition of the sale, the current owner has to clean up the mess and they are working fast so they can ditch the property and make their money sooner.
Huh, that is a really fascinating theory. One of the most nagging questions for me is, why would Conoco volunteer to do this? What do they get out of it? But the spill in question is right in front of the 76 station, owned by Conoco. I never thought that station could be doing very well, especially with a Shell two blocks away that’s always 10-20 cents cheaper.
Veeeeery interesting indeed.
Follow-up: Construction Noise is prohibited after 10 p.m.
Call the DPD Violation Complaint Line at (206) 615-0808
Seriously! Don’t let the Vulcans get away with this.
For liability reasons, the seller is almost ALWAYS the one to do the clean-up. The buyer has included the money the clean-up costs in the price they are willing to pay, but they need a clean site.
This stuff usually bores my significant other to death, but it seriously affects the livability of a city, so I think it is pretty fascinating.
Wow, thanks for the update! That’s really good information to know.