Plucking polluted pilings: 1,200 are being removed along Tacoma’s Ruston Way
Crews have begun pulling the first of some 1,200 polluted pilings that once supported a sawmill on Tacoma’s waterfront. The site is one of “The Filthy Four,” according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
Crews working for DNR started the project Wednesday at the old Dickman Mill site — now a Metro Parks Tacoma property.
“They pulled out a few, got it up and going, but it should be fully operating and going over the next couple of weeks,” said DNR spokesperson Zoe Love.
After $10.8 million in funding was approved in 2023 by the state Legislature and Gov. Jay Inslee, DNR first cleaned up a site in Neah Bay. After Dickman Mill is complete, it has sites in Seattle and the lower Columbia River to tackle.
The budget for Dickman Mill stands at $3.5 million, Love said.
For the next several weeks, passers-by can watch as a crane pulls logs from the water and loads them onto barges. Once used to support buildings, wharves and piers, many of the abandoned timbers are infused with the wood preservative creosote. It’s now banned for aquatic use.
Until now, the state has been slow to remove abandoned and polluted pilings due to lack of funding and authority. The Senate bill gave a boost to an existing aquatic resources restoration program that was primarily focused on Puget Sound. The new funding allows the program to expand its scope.
Dickman Mill
The historic site on what was once an industry-heavy waterfront was one of Tacoma’s pioneer sawmills and operated from the 1890s to 1979, when it was significantly damaged in a fire. The waterfront is now studded with parks and restaurants.
During its operation, the mill cast sawdust and chunks of wood into the water which, in some cases, sank to Commencement Bay’s floor rather than floating away. That waste can form a barrier to aquatic life, DNR said.
But it’s the pilings that are both the most noticeable and most polluting, the agency said.
The new funding will also go after tire reefs, abandoned recreational docks, derelict boats and, in the case of the Dickman Mill, that persistent wood debris.
Creosote
Used since the 1800s to preserve wood, wood-tar creosote is one of several types of the chemical compound which can be made commercially or produced naturally when wood is burned in a fireplace.
The green-hued coal-tar creosote is an effective wood preservative but it comes with dangers. It’s considered carcinogenic to people and harmful to aquatic life.
Studies have shown that the eggs herring and other fish lay on creosote-infused structures can fail to develop.
A new waterscape
On Thursday, a pair of Barrow’s Godeneye ducks was swimming near Dickman Mill. Booms surrounding the site were containing a thin sheen on the water. Love attributed the oily-appearing substance to recently exposed creosote.
“There should be a perimeter that is well maintained, that makes sure that that (sheen) doesn’t get out of that construction site, but they’ll have that all cleaned up before they head out,” she said.
The Dickman Mill project should be finished in February, Love said. By then, the waters at the park should be piling-free.
“We’ll have multiple runs of divers going through and making sure all of the debris and the pilings and things from the mill are all cleaned up,” Love said.
The final part of the project includes installing a layer of sediment, in this case gravel, over the underwater work area.
This story was originally published November 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
