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Home | Image Galleries | Natural Resource Restoration

Asarco Site Tour

See how CPRD worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state environmental agencies, and responsible parties to help create a new habitat as part of a hazardous waste site clean-up. The following photographs were taken on August 28, 2000 during a site visit sponsored by Asarco to view the removal of slag from the intertidal zone, the protection of remaining slag from erosion, and construction of new intertidal habitats.

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Asarco Dock Aerial 01

From 1890 to 1985, Asarco (the American Smelting and Refining Company) operated one of the largest North American smelters in Tacoma, Washington, on the southwest shore of Commencement Bay, an embayment of southern Puget Sound.

(08.28.00, Tacoma, Washington)

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Creating New Habitat As Part of Hazardous Waste Cleanup at Asarco Asarco operated one of the largest North American smelters from 1890 to 1985 in Tacoma, Washington, leaving a legacy of toxic slag along the shoreline. OR&R scientists worked with EPA and Asarco to incorporate habitat into the shoreline cleanup.