Jorgensen Forge

WHY DO WE NEED TO CLEAN UP THE JORGENSEN FORGE SITE?

Just south of the 14th Ave Street Bridge and upstream of Boeing, Jorgensen Forge is a former steel and aluminum forging and distribution facility on the banks of the Lower Duwamish River. The riverbanks and sediments next to the factory are contaminated with toxic metals and PCBs, which were cleaned up under an EPA Early Action cleanup order in 2014 and 2015. However, tests showed that the company left pollution behind. EPA fined Jorgensen Forge for not completing the work correctly and a new plan is being developed to finish the cleanup.

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About Jorgensen Forge Corp. (JF)

Responding to concerns about comments due April 26 for Jorgensen Forge Corp.- is worth noting that these comments are ONLY for the upland site, and is under the jurisdiction of Ecology, not part of the EPA-led Superfund site (toxic sediment cleanup) which is DRCC main focus and as you can see in our latest comment letter. It is also worth noting that Ecology cannot rely on community-based organizations to do all of their outreach and engagement for them without providing funding to do so. DRCC has requested Ecology multiple times to have an opportunity to review fact sheets and make suggestions on how to improve them as well as presentations. I think the community is obviously and understandably confused with the comments due tomorrow which are for the upland clean up. Rest assured *if* the upland cleanup plan for JF proposed by Dept of Ecology is not health protective, DRCC will do everything in our power to alert the community and organize a response. Apologies for not having the capacity to fully engage with every interim step, but rest assured that this phase of review of the JF upland cleanup process is a low level interim step in an ongoing process -- and please stay involved!

More information from Ecology HERE