Palouse Brownfields site sees new grant, drilling

Another turn of events for the Palouse Brownfields project last week moved the site that much closer to completion. Crews finished testing the oil, diesel and gas pollutants saturating the ground of Palouse’s Brownfields site last week.

The site, an ongoing environmental clean-up and re-use project for the city, was also awarded $48,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency last week. The funding will help supplement the larger Department of Ecology grant of $200,000 awarded last year.

The federal bankruptcy court out of Spokane also last week ruled legal owners on record for the site is Palouse Producers. The company operated at the site before it went bankrupt in the 1980s.

The legal firm of Aitken, Schauble, Patrick, Neill & Ruff was named trustee by the court for the property interest last week.

“It all came to a head this week,” said Palouse Mayor Michael Echanove Friday.

John Sell previously used buildings on the site for storage, but the court determined Sell had never filed the quit claim deed he said he had for the property, Echanove said.

The mayor added he anticipates the trustee will sign the property over to the city which has undertaken the cleanup project for the property.

A drilling crew Friday wrapped up tests for pollutants at the site, which is a half acre along the Palouse River in Palouse.

The DOE deemed the site a Brownfields site in the mid-2000s. The city was later awarded $200,000 from the DOE for an integrated planning grant.

With those funds, the city has worked with the people of Palouse to hash out the best re-use for the site once cleaned up.

“There still is evidence of petroleum contamination in the site. Now to what extent, who knows?” said Doug Willcox, city-appointed coordinator of the project.

“I don’t think it is a serious health hazard. It isn’t oozing all over the river and into the town,” said Willcox, who is serving as a volunteer.

Consulting firm Maul Foster Alongi (MFA) was hired with grant funds to guide Palouse through reintegration.

After extensive conversations among the citizens of Palouse led by MFA, Echanove said a popular suggestion for the site is a two-story building with retail quarters on the ground floor and some type of urban living space on the second.

“We hear that a lot,” Echanove said.

The city hopes to have decided on an option by this fall, Echanove said.

“Our whole intent is to make the project so it provides economic value to our community. That’s hard,” Echanove said.