EPA orders Navy to fix problems at former dump
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the Navy to fix problems associated with a former hazardous dump near Port Orchard.
The EPA says records show that a substantial amount of the waste in Gorst Creek Ravine is from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton. It says the landfill was the main dumping ground for shipyard waste between 1969 and 1970, when the site wasn’t permitted to take waste.
The Kitsap Sun says the landfill has collapsed several times since 1997 and threatens to blow out Highway 3, possibly sending garbage downstream into Gorst Creek.
Navy spokeswoman Sheila Murray says the Navy is reviewing the order and will provide the EPA with a response.
The EPA order issued Tuesday directs the Navy to reroute the creek around the landfill to improve salmon habitat.
