SEATTLE — Working on a tip from the Seattle Fire Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is clearing more than 1,000 containers full of what it describes as commercial grade chemicals from a house in the city’s Green Lake neighborhood.
KOMO-TV reports many of the substances are hazardous, including arsenic, cadmium and hydrofluoric acid.
EPA emergency response coordinator Jeffry Rodin says a residential house is “not where these type of chemicals belong.”
Rodin says the homeowner had a background in chemistry and research chemistry.
The EPA official says another concern is that most of the chemicals weren’t labeled and most were not packaged properly.
Unlabeled chemicals are being field-analyzed in the back yard, packaged and inventoried to be hauled away for disposal. Rodin says the cleanup could cost close to $100,000.
Neighbors have been told the cleanup poses no public safety risk.
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