Town Moves To Clean Local Environment

With the town of Skykomish's riverfront now free of polluted soil
and groundwater, officials are preparing next year's cleanup project,
which most likely will include moving more of the town's buildings to
a temporary location.

For the past eight months, crews have removed dirt and groundwa-
ter contaminated with heavy oil along the riverfront.
The oil is the remnant of a former rail-yard operation owned by
BNSF Railway.

In May, five houses were moved while 70,000 cubic feet of dirt and
debris were dug out, and contamination in the Skykomish riverbed
was removed. More than 30,000 gallons of oil was recovered.
Oily soils are being deposited in a landfill, but recovered oil is being
recycled in Seattle for use as ship fuel.

The town, with a population of about 200, also is taking advantage
of the digging to renovate its image.
A new levee will become part of a river walk the town designed.
Ecology also is working with the town to add a large septic-sewer
system while cleanup work is under way.
This will allow parts of Skykomish to be redeveloped.


SOURCE:
Seattle Times

Now, obviously the majority of people will have never heard of this
town, let alone know where it is, but I think that this town is impor-
tant because it shows that we can clean the environment, without
having to lose out on the economy.

Not only, as was mentioned above, has 30,000lbs (13,636kg) of oil
been recovered and recycled for use, but the towns economy is
getting a boost from the renovations that are coming with the
clean-up job.


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[edit on 12/29/2006 by iori_komei]