From the Washington State Department of Ecology, 9/7/12

About 10 a.m. on Sept. 3 an incident was reported in McKenna, Washington. A tanker truck rolled over, spilling approximately 3,000 gallons of landfill wastewater called leachate. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. WSP identified him as Mark Webb of Colville.  The truck he was driving was headed westbound on SR702 and missed the turn at the intersection with SR507. Conditions were foggy with diminished visibility. Responders included Ecology, the local fire department and the State Patrol.

The leachate was spilled into a parking lot and a grassy area that is part of a stormwater catch area at McKenna Elementary School.

Leachate is not considered hazardous waste. It has a high level of organic materials and may contain dissolved metals. If spilled leachate reaches water, aside from metals, the concern is that it can rapidly feed bacteria that live in water.

Quarterly sampling is performed at the landfill; the quarterly leachate results are included in monitoring reports that are submitted to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and Ecology.  Ecology took a sample of the soil at the spill site & requested hydrocarbon analysis (to look for presence of oil from the truck) and metals (possibly from the leachate spilled).  The cleanup is being headed up by Bravo Environmental. The school parking lot has been cleaned with a street sweeper They will be in the area again on Saturday, September 8 to recover soil that is contaminated with leachate & oil.