Frontiers November 2014 25 Gazing across what was once a chemical storage facility, Joe Flaherty watched as bees and butterflies moved gracefully from flower to flower on the acre of now blooming pollinator habitat. “It still blows me away,” he said of the transformation from hazardous waste site to community garden. “It’s become a sanctuary and a real community asset.” Flaherty coordinates the cleanup of the former Chemical Commodities Inc. Superfund site in Olathe, Kan. “It shows what can be accomplished when we work together with our neighbors and partners,” he added. The site cleanup is one example of Boeing’s approach to improving its environmental performance that partners and regulators alike say is setting new standards for environmental responsibility and stewardship. It’s part of Boeing’s global environmental strategy, which is improving communities and creating opportunities for responsible growth worldwide, explained Ursula English, vice president of Environment, Health & Safety. “Our goal is to find the best-possible solutions to environmental challenges—for our company, the industry and our neighbors,” English said. “Closely collaborating with a wide array of partners is a key to success.” The Chemical Commodities site near Kansas City operated as a chemical brokerage and recycling facility for nearly 40 years. Rocketdyne, which was briefly part of Boeing, shipped wastes to the site for recycling in the 1960s. Boeing completed cleanup in 2011, a full year ahead of schedule. “We wanted to take the cleanup an extra step and build something that would bring extra value to the community and the environment,” Flaherty said. His team discussed options with the community, which led to the creation of a special habitat called the Pollinator Prairie with gardens of native plants that support pollinator species, including birds, bees and butterflies. Neighbors volunteer to help with garden maintenance. “It’s an educational site for the whole community, with kiosks of information at each garden,” Flaherty said. The Environmental Protection Agency in 2012 presented Boeing its Leading Environmentalism and Forwarding Sustainability award for its work at the site. The pollinator habitat “extends beyond” the agency’s requirement to clean up hazardous waste in communities, the agency noted. Involving the community in remediation work also is being used in one of Boeing’s largest remediation projects: cleanup and restoration of the Lower Duwamish Waterway near what was Boeing’s Plant 2 in Seattle. The former Plant 2 facility was torn down in 2011 and construction of a new shoreline fish and wildlife habitat was completed in 2013. Work is underway to remove an estimated 165,000 cubic yards (126,000 cubic meters) of contaminated sediment from the waterway and replace it with clean sand along a half-mile stretch of the waterway. “The neighboring community needed a personal face on such a big project,” said Brian Anderson, environmental engineer and project manager. “We provided our phone numbers to call if anyone had questions or concerns. It was important for us to be there over and over and respond to their input.” Anderson said Boeing also works PHOTO: Community volunteer Mariruth Gruis, left, and Boeing remediation coordinator Joe Flaherty tend to the neighborhood garden and pollinator habitat. It replaced a chemical processing facility in Olathe, Kan. TAMMY LJUNGBLAD
Frontiers November 2014 Issue
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