TULALIP — A large, ammonia-filled tank that washed up on a Tulalip beach last weekend has been removed.
Someone walking on the beach came across the tank Sunday afternoon on the northern part of the Tulalip Indian Reservation. The tank was emitting poisonous ammonia fumes into the air, officials with the state Department of Ecology said.
Air monitoring showed that the fumes did not pose a health threat to the Tulare Beach neighborhood to the north, but the beach was closed as a precaution.
By late Monday afternoon, the ammonia had evaporated, said Dick Walker, a spill responder for the ecology department.
The state hired a contractor who removed the steel tank by boat Tuesday. It will be recycled, Walker said.
The cylindrical tank was about four feet in diameter and four feet tall, officials said. Authorities estimate the tank could have held 470 gallons or 2,000 pounds of ammonia.
Officials believe it may have been used to store ammonia for a refrigeration unit on a fishing boat, and had been in the water for a long time.
Illegally dumping hazardous waste is a criminal offense, but officials said the tank’s age and weathered condition will make it impossible to trace.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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