July 17, 2024

Cleanup work starts at Bellingham's I & J Waterway

Photo by Washington Department of Ecology [enlarge]

In this photo taken on Monday, the Guardian, a 200-ton capacity American Construction floating crane, readies to dredge contaminated sediment at the I & J Waterway cleanup site.

Construction crews on the Bellingham waterfront are scheduled this week to begin the onerous task of dredging approximately 18,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated by past industrial activities from the I & J Waterway next to Bornstein Seafoods.

The work is expected to cost about $20 million and is being paid for by the Port of Bellingham and Bornstein Seafoods.

In addition to dredging, the project includes removing and replacing a dock and installing a new sheet pile bulkhead. The work is scheduled to be done by mid-February.

CRETE Consulting of Tukwila is the remedial design consultant and American Construction Co. of Tacoma is doing construction. Both are under contract with the Port of Bellingham.

As one portion of the site is dredged for contaminated sediment from past industrial activities along the shoreline including lumber mill operations, rock crushing and seafood processing, as well as a building fire in 1985, another portion is in design engineering. For that portion of the project, scientists will be sampling sediment to assess the type and extent of contamination there. That work is expected to cost about $7 million, funded by the port and Olivine Corporation. Sampling will last about a month.

The port is eligible for reimbursement for up to half of the project costs from the state Department of Ecology through the state's remedial action grant program, which helps pay for cleanup at publicly owned sites, a department spokesperson said. The state Legislature funds the grant program with revenues from a tax on hazardous substances.

Studies conducted on the site as part of the cleanup process have shown polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, phenols, nickel, dioxins/furans, polychlorinated biphenols, and mercury in sediment at concentrations that exceed the requirements of the state's cleanup law, the Model Toxics Control Act, the spokesperson said.

The state Department of Ecology is managing the cleanup of 12 sites on or near the waterfront in the Bellingham Bay area. The Bellingham Bay Demonstration Pilot is a bay-wide, multi-agency effort to clean up contamination, control pollution sources and restore habitat, while considering land and water uses. Two sites have been completely cleaned up, and most of the other 10 have had some work completed. The Port of Bellingham, the city of Bellingham, and others are doing the cleanup work under legal agreements with the department.