Do I have to disclose the Tacoma Smelter Plume when I sell my house?

The soil question on Form 17

Form 17 is the seller disclosure statement most Washington homeowners complete when they sell, under chapter 64.06 of the Revised Code of Washington. Its environmental section asks, among other things, if you know of soil contamination on the property. Each question takes yes, no or “don’t know,” and every answer turns on what you know at the time you fill it out.

The environmental section carries a rule of its own. A buyer can usually waive the right to receive Form 17, but the Department of Ecology points out that the waiver isn’t available when any answer in the environmental section is yes. So if you know your yard has high levels of arsenic or lead, the environmental section goes to the buyer regardless.

The form’s other sections and the buyer’s review period after delivery are covered on the page about selling an older Tacoma house as-is. This article sticks to the soil.

What the Tacoma Smelter Plume is and where it reaches

For close to a century a smelter ran on the shoreline at Ruston, on the ground where Point Ruston stands today, and the Asarco company operated it for most of that time. Its tall stack sent arsenic and lead into the air, and the wind carried them over parts of King, Pierce and Thurston counties, with the heaviest contamination nearest the old site and on Vashon-Maury Island.

Closer to home, the question comes up most in the neighborhoods nearest the old site: Ruston, the North End and Old Town. That doesn’t mean every yard there has a problem. Levels can differ from one lot to the next, and even within a single yard. Soil that has sat undisturbed for decades, under old trees or in a corner nobody ever dug, can hold more than ground that was dug up or replaced along the way.

The smelter site itself went through a long federal cleanup before Point Ruston was built, and many yards in Ruston and the nearby part of north Tacoma had soil replaced in an earlier cleanup. Some properties in that area may also carry rules about how excavated soil is handled. If you are near the old site, ask Ecology or the city whether any of that applies to your parcel before a buyer asks you.

Known, tested or never checked: how each changes your answer

Your yard was sampled. The results are something you know, and a buyer is entitled to them. If they show levels Ecology considers a concern, the answer to the soil question is yes, with the report attached. If the numbers came back low, disclose that sampling was done and share the report anyway. Either way, have an attorney look at the exact wording.

Your yard was cleaned up. Say so, and hand over the records. To most buyers a documented soil replacement reads as good news, because someone already dug out the problem and put clean soil in its place. The sampling and cleanup history for many addresses appears on Ecology’s Dirt Alert map, so a buyer will likely see it anyway.

Nobody ever checked. Then “don’t know” can be an honest answer. It stays honest only as long as it’s true. Once you look your address up or order a test, the answer changes to whatever you found.

Leaving the question unexamined doesn’t keep it from the buyer. A buyer’s agent working in the North End can pull up Dirt Alert in a couple of minutes. The only difference is whether the information shows up in your disclosure package, where you control how it’s presented, or in the middle of the buyer’s inspection period, where it becomes a reason to renegotiate.

Soil sampling and yard cleanup through the Department of Ecology

Ecology’s Yard Program offers free soil sampling to qualifying residential properties inside its service area and, for yards where arsenic or lead comes back above the program’s cleanup levels, free soil removal and replacement. The program is voluntary and paid for out of the settlement with Asarco. Ecology and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department can tell you if your address is in the service area and how to get on the list.

Ecology also says that if you sell before a qualifying yard has been cleaned up, the cleanup offer transfers to the new owner. A buyer who learns that the fix is free and already lined up tends to treat the soil question very differently from one who thinks the bill is theirs.

A few practical notes for a seller:

• Start with the Dirt Alert map. Search your address to see what sampling or soil replacement is on record, and whether the property falls inside the Yard Program area.
• The program works through its list on its own schedule, and sampling, results and cleanup each take time. If you plan to sell within weeks, don’t expect to finish a cleanup first. Ask Ecology for something in writing showing where your property stands in the process, so a buyer can see it.
• Private environmental consultants can sample on your timeline, at your own cost. Anything they find becomes part of what you know.
• If you’re short on time, the usual route is to disclose what the records show and let buyers weigh it, rather than start a project you can’t finish before closing.

What buyers and inspectors in the North End tend to ask

A standard home inspection doesn’t include soil testing, so the questions usually come from the buyer or their agent. Expect some version of these: Has the yard been sampled? Was any soil replaced, and where? What went into the vegetable beds? Where do kids play? Buyers with young children and buyers who garden ask the most.

A raised bed filled with purchased soil is a small but useful detail to mention, especially if you kept the receipt. So is a lawn that was put in over imported topsoil. Ecology’s everyday advice for people living in the plume is plain: wash hands after yard work, take shoes off at the door, garden in clean soil, and wash produce well.

Builders and investors ask different questions. Anyone planning a foundation, a backyard cottage or a deep excavation has to think about where that soil goes, and they will price the answer into their offer. If a builder is eyeing your lot for its size, the article on Home in Tacoma zoning and whether a builder might want your lot covers how those offers differ from a family buyer’s. A cash buyer who buys older North End houses regularly will likely check Dirt Alert for your street before making an offer.

Putting the information in front of buyers early

With soil, as with oil tanks and old sewer lines, the best time for a buyer to learn about it is before they write an offer. Buyers price in what they know on day one. What they find out after mutual acceptance tends to come back as a repair request or a lower number.

Before the house goes on the market, pull together what exists:

• A printout or screenshot of your address on the Dirt Alert map
• Any sampling reports, whoever did the sampling
• Cleanup records showing where soil was replaced and when
• Receipts for soil brought in for raised beds or a new lawn
• Your completed Form 17, reviewed by an attorney if any environmental answer is yes

Put those in the disclosure package so every buyer sees them before writing an offer. The inspection period is then left for the house itself.