Sustainable Burien will hold its monthly gathering on Sunday, Jan. 8
at the Burien Library multi-purpose room, 400 S.W. 152nd St. The doors will open at
1:30 p.m. with the gathering running from 2-4 p.m.


Elizabeth Weldin, of the Toxics Cleanup Program with the Washington State Department of Ecology, will be speaking about the “Tacoma plume,” from the ASARCO plant in Tacoma.

For almost 100 years, the Asarco Company operated a copper smelter in Tacoma. Air pollution from the smelter settled on the surface soil over more than 1,000 square miles of the Puget Sound basin. Arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals are still in the soil as a result of this pollution.

Learn how this affects you. How safe are we? Who is at risk? How does this impact the sustainability of Burien? Can I grow my own food? Can my kids play outside in the dirt? What businesses might be impacted? Land value? What steps can we make to mitigate the presence of arsenic and create a healthy and resilient community?

More information is available at www.sustainableburien.org.

For more information on the Tacoma Plume, please check out the Highline Times story, Ecology department offers advice, assistance for arsenic contaminated soil from Tacoma Plume.