By Anneli Fogt

Contaminants do exist in the groundwater underneath K2’s former factory on Vashon Highway, a report submitted to the state Department of Ecology (DOE) last week shows, but the contaminants “appear to be within” the property’s boundaries and pose no risk to humans or other “terrestrial organisms.”

The environmental testing began earlier this year and was conducted by environmental consulting company Environmental Resources Management (ERM).

The report outlining the findings comes six months after it was reported that the DOE approved K2’s plan to conduct further environmental testing at the former factory that is listed as contaminated by the state. K2 entered into the DOE’s voluntary cleanup program in May 2014 after local political action group the Backbone Campaign raised concerns about the environmental state of the building. Initial environmental testing run at the site after the removal of a leaking diesel tank in 2008 was reportedly deemed incomplete.

According to the report published on the DOE’s website as a site characterization report, the organic compound trichloroethane was found in groundwater under the facility. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, the compound can cause serious health problems affecting the liver, circulatory system and nervous system if consumed in high levels. Hydrocarbons from petroleum and oil were detected in “less than approximately 10 cubic yards” of soil at the site, the report states. However, the results of the ERM study show that exposure of people or animals to the above contaminants at the property “is not a regulatory concern under current conditions.”

K2 officials told The Beachcomber in a statement from their public relations firm on Thursday that they “intend to take appropriate actions to mitigate any environmental issues at the site,” but declined to offer further comment about their plans for the future of the building.

“(Cleaning up) is our only priority right now as stewards of the property on Vashon Island,” K2 officials said in the statement the PR firm issued. “Once the necessary work is completed, we can contemplate our next steps. For the moment we are completely focused on addressing the issues brought up by the  report that has been published on the WA Department of Ecology website. We will have no further comment until that work has been completed.”

K2 officials fielded all questions through their PR firm, Verde Brand Communication.

Multiple steps still stand in the way of the cleaning process being completed, though. DOE site manager Dale Myer, who is handling the K2 site, said that the site characterization report posted on the DOE’s website is the digital copy, not the hard copy. Until the hard copy arrives, he said he is unable to author an opinion letter or review the report.

“Our 90-day review and response time starts when we receive the hard copy,” Myers said. “It may arrive next week; it may not arrive for a few weeks. We don’t know. Once it arrives, it will probably be two months before the opinion letter comes out.”

Opinion letters are written by DOE site managers to summarize and present the information in reports in a way the public can understand, and give the opinion of the department in response to the study. Because K2 is part of the state’s voluntary cleanup program and there is no “immediate danger to health and the environment,” Myers said the company is under “no real time requirement.”

“As long as they make some sort of action one year after we receive the hard copy of this report, there is really no time frame for them to complete the cleanup,” Myers said. “Cleanup processes can take a couple of years.”

DOE spokesman Larry Altose said that the department’s next step is to determine “whether the site study provides enough information to proceed with the next cleanup process steps.” He said a feasibility study of cleanup options and an action plan will need to be provided to the department before cleanup work and follow-up monitoring take place.

“Each of these steps involves a report to us and an opinion letter from us,” Altose said.

The facility has been vacant since K2 moved their manufacturing business out in the mid-1990s. There has been strong local interest in the former factory, and many ideas have been generated by islanders, including plans for a large community center, but the ideas have not come to fruition and the building continues to sit vacant.

A marijuana edibles company showed brief interest in buying the building early last year, but terminated its contract to do so a few months later due to “county land use paperwork,” previous Beachcomber articles report.

There was also discussion about the Vashon Island School District possibly obtaining the property, but Superintendent Michael Soltman said last week that the plan is “not feasible.”

“It’s just too much space,” Soltman said. “It’s a monster of a project for the community to take on.”

Soltman said that the best idea he has heard for the use of the building is islander Kevin Joyce’s idea for a public development authority (PDA). Joyce told The Beachcomber that he and a group of islanders are doing the groundwork and researching the idea to turn the building into an area for “longtime community resilience.” He and his group envision a place for self-sufficiency, where power can be made, water can be purified and residents can learn and innovate to further the interests of sustainability and self-sufficiency.

“We’re doing the groundwork, but the vision isn’t coherent,” Joyce said Friday evening. “The idea is still in its larval stages, but it’s something we need to do as a society. We need to collaborate with the on-island brain trust for sustainability.”

He said that the group has held off on making any plans public because the idea is still in its infancy. He hopes to eventually find some sort of governmental support or funding to get the idea off the ground.

“Presenting the idea needs to be done coherently,” he said. “It’s really critical for societies to learn how to be self-sufficient.”