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COMMON QUESTIONS <br /> AND <br /> ANSWERS <br /> About the Proposed <br /> ASARCO EVERETT SMELTER CLEANUP <br /> (Please refer to the Department of Ecology Fact Sheets for basic information about the <br /> site and the need for the cleanup. This discussion addresses issues specific to the City's <br /> consideration of assisting the Everett Housing Authority in ensuring the cleanup occurs.) <br /> ❖ Why must the cleanup happen this year? If it can't be put together now won't it <br /> just be a matter of a few more years before it is done? <br /> ✓ No. It's taken 14 years to get to this point. There are a variety of reasons why it <br /> is, at best,unlikely that cleanup will ever occur if it cannot be done this year. At a <br /> minimum the chances of a cleanup that allows the area to be returned to <br /> residential uses will be even less likely if the opportunity to accomplish the <br /> cleanup now is missed. <br /> ❖ What are the reasons for this pessimistic conclusion? <br /> ✓ The main reasons to conclude cleanup needs to be done this year are: <br /> 1. Cost; <br /> 2. Availability of the On-site Containment Facility ("OCF") in Ruston-which is <br /> directly related to 1; <br /> 3. Availability of other areas at the Ruston Smelter which is also related to 1; <br /> 4. Availability of money from the Asarco Federal Trust; <br /> 5. Availability of a DOE Toxic's Grant; <br /> 6. The relationship between the Everett Housing Authority (EHA) involvement <br /> and access to the DOE Grant; and; <br /> 7. The relationship between the sale price of Asarco assets and the cost to <br /> perform the cleanup under conditions that will only exist in 2004. <br /> ❖ What is the estimated cost difference if the site isn't cleaned up this year? <br /> ✓ The additional cost to cleanup the site will increase by $6-20 million if it is not <br /> done in 2004. That means site cleanup will cost $10-24 million in the future. The <br /> detail of those extra costs is found in the next responses. <br /> ✓ The most critical component of the cleanup that is time sensitive is the <br /> availability of the "On-site Containment Facility" (OCF) in Ruston. This is <br /> essentially a hazardous waste landfill built into the Ruston site. The cost to build <br /> it was funded by the Ruston cleanup. Due to initial conservative estimates of how <br /> much material would need to go in the OCF from Ruston and Tacoma there now <br />