Green Lake 'house of hazards' chemical stash multiplies in size

SEATTLE — The stash of toxic chemicals inside of a Green Lake home is now three times the size that investigators originally thought.

Investigators are also saying they are finding substances a lot more dangerous than anticipated.

The cost for clean-up has also tripled, from $100,000 to $300,000.

"He just had an incredible amount of chemicals in containers in the house. We found over 1,000 containers in the basement, we had another 1,000 in the backyard,” said Jeffry Rodin with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA said normally in a situation like this, the homeowner would front the bill through a court order. But the significantly high cost the 91-year-old homeowner is likely not able to pay means the money comes out of the EPA Super Fund.

Substances found include nitric acid, and now, the EPA has uncovered containers of mercury and ether, which is known to be highly explosive.

The owner established a company at his address on Fifth Avenue Northeast called the Eastern Pacific Chemical Company and was likely able to obtain the chemicals that way without breaking laws.

"He did have a registered business and maybe that's how he was able to mail order a lot of these things when it was not questioned,” Rodin said.

The ground soil around the home is still being tested, and investigators said if anything pops up, they will alert neighbors.

EPA investigators believe they will have disposed of all of the chemicals by Friday evening.

The owner will then be allowed to return home.

Previous stories:

Toxic secret: Massive cache of chemicals hidden by Green Lake homeowner (April 9, 2014)

Owner of Green Lake chemical 'house of hazards' denies he was a danger  (April 9, 2014)

KIRO 7 investigates: How hard is it to get dangerous chemicals (April 9, 2014)

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