SEATTLE, WA – The Elliott Bay Trustees reached a settlement with General Recycling of Washington and its affiliates – Nucor Steel Seattle and David J. Joseph Company – related to damages to natural resources caused by hazardous contaminants released in the Lower Seattle’s Duwamish River.
The Elliott Bay Trustees include the United States, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); the Department of the Interior represented by the US Fish & Wildlife Service; the State of Washington, on behalf of the Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Wildlife; the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe; and the Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation.
As part of the settlement, the companies will build and maintain a habitat restoration project at General Recycling’s facility located on the west bank of the Lower Duwamish River. This will provide nearly three acres of off-channel habitat for fish and other wildlife and natural resources damaged by contamination. The habitat will provide areas of refuge and food sources for wildlife and a variety of fish, including juvenile salmon migrating from spawning grounds upriver.
The agreement also requires the companies to reimburse a proportion of the costs incurred by administrators to assess damages to natural resources in the river totaling more than $360,000. The settlement and project resolves claims asserted under federal and state laws for damages to natural resources arising from releases of oil and hazardous substances from the General Recycling facility.
“This settlement will provide critical habitat to the Lower Duwamish River that will provide significant benefits to important natural resources in the region,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
“NOAA is pleased to enter into this agreement with our co-trustees, private partners and industry to help restore important habitat, fisheries and wildlife damaged by pollution at this site,” said Assistant Administrator Nicole LeBoeuf for NOAA’s National Ocean Service. “Clean and productive waterways are important to tribal and local communities for their cultural and economic well-being and this restoration will especially benefit people affected by pollution.”
“This agreement marks an important step toward restoring salmon habitat in the Duwamish River, which is essential for the recovery of salmon species and for the exercise of treaty fishing rights by the Suquamish people guaranteed by the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott,” said Chairman Leonard Forsman of the Suquamish Tribe. “The Salish Sea, and the marine life that depends on it, is an important resource to the Suquamish. We look forward to continued progress in reversing the damage done by years of pollution and destructive land use. With this settlement, and more on the way, we’re starting to see what habitat restoration looks like, and that means strengthening our fisheries treaty and our livelihoods.”
The Elliott Bay Trustees developed a Draft Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (RP/EA) that evaluates the project’s environmental benefits and impacts, which is also subject to a 30-day comment period.
This settlement was part of a series of early settlements with polluting parties for damages to natural resources on the Lower Duwamish River.
