From Stark
BELLINGHAM—Proposed changes to the pollution cleanup plan for Whatcom Waterway are ready for public comment, the Washington Department of Ecology announced Thursday, March 10.
The underwater sediments in the waterway are tainted with mercury discharged during the operation of the Georgia-pacific Corp. pulp mill that shut down in 2001. The original 2007 cleanup plan envisioned depositing some dredged material from the less-contaminated outer waterway in deep-water disposal sites, but dioxin and furan contamination that has been discovered in those sediments will require a different approach.
The new plan envisions disposing of those sediments inside G-P’s old wastewater treatment lagoon, once the more highly-contaminated material inside the lagoon has been removed.
The waterway sediments would then be covered with clean material to enable the port to proceed with its long-range plan to convert the lagoon into a marina.
The Whatcom Waterway cleanup is expected to cost about $90 million. Ecology will reimburse up to half the port’s costs through the state’s remedial action grant program, which helps pay to clean up publicly owned sites. The state legislature funds the grant program with revenues from a tax on hazardous substances, such as petroleum, that enter the state.
The first phase of the project would include cleanup of the inner waterway, as envisioned in the 2007 plan, beginning in 2012. The second phase would include cleanup of the outer waterway and the treatment lagoon with construction beginning in 2017.
Information on the proposed changes will be available during a public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. March 15 at Bellingham Technical College, 3028 Lindbergh Ave., Building G., Room 102A.
The documentation can be read online (click here)
Comments may be submitted to, Lucy McInerney, site manager, Washington Department of Ecology, 3190 160th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 98008-5452 or by email: lucy.mcinerney@ecy.wa.gov
The public comment period ends April 11, 2011.
Hi all:
There were some problems with rogue HTML code getting into one of our posts, and it was making it impossible for some people to comment. I think I’ve got it fixed, but let me know if you still have problems.
Thanks,
Jared
Three card monte.
Watch carefully.
Keep your eyes on the toxin.
Now you see it,
now you don’t!
Like they said at the Spam Spam Eggs and Spam Diner,
you can order the Spam
if you don’t like Spam,
since there’s only a little Spam in it.
Hi Jared,
I hope your brother made it back alright and everything is honkie-dorry at the Paben household.
If I comment, will they listen???
Hi Camille:
He has left Afghanistan (finally!) and is now in transit somewhere. I know he was stopping off in Kyrgyzstan before coming back. He should be back in the United States this weekend sometime. It’ll be good to talk with him on the phone anytime I want … well, almost any time.
Thanks for asking!
Jared
You bet’cha!
The Port’s project description is disturbingly misleading, and language of the amendment is drafted to be inscrutable even if one took the time to review it. This is not about the wastewater treatment lagoon, as alleged by the Port.
If it was, why would the amendment need to include language regarding the overwater walkway from Blvd. Park to the Cornwall Landfill? Why does the amendment not clearly state that dioxin contaminated sediment resulting from the Port’s routine dredging activities at Squalicum Harbor will be dumped on top of the Cornwall Landfill as a partial “clean-up” action?
The City is using the amendment to the Consent Decree as an excuse to sneak in an unnecessary 7 million dollar Parks project that that will result in environmental degradation. The Port is using the amendment to pass along its routine operating costs as part of the public’s costs for remediation for the Cornwall Landfill. It had originally intended to dispose of its dredged spoils at an open water site, but the sediment proved too polluted with dioxin, and normal land-based disposal is costly. And both the City and Port get to proceed with waterfront development without full site remediation, a proper cumulative impact analysis or adequate mitigation.
The whole thing stinks and is a scam on the public. Want to part of this for yourself? Interim Clean-Up Plan at http://bit.ly/facx1b ; DOE letter to Port at http://bit.ly/hNz30W; Port letter to DOE at http://bit.ly/fQpY5X; City internal discussion regarding interim plan at http://bit.ly/e26kJN ).
A little more background info on the amendment to the Consent Decree. The was preceded by the Port’s submission of an Interim Action Preliminary Site Plan to DOE. DOE stated that it did not identify any fatal flaws, but advised that this “does not indicate that Ecology agrees that a dioxins/furans soil cleanup level for industrial use is appropriate.”
DOE listed a number of potential concerns: 1) demonstration must be made that contaminants in the material will not exacerbate groundwater problems at the site. This should consider not just the immediate drainage from the spoils but any leaching over time as the material is exposed to air. Sediments are typically in an anaerobic state. When brought to an upland condition, they will be exposed to air. This could release metals currently tied up in the sediment. This may require a pilot project, and 2) the weight of the material may squeeze out leachate from the landfill, increasing the leachate head within the waste and increasing discharges until this head dissipates. This may require installation of a leachate collection system, and 3) Landfill gas may be pushed out by consolidation of the waste. Gas monitoring should be stepped up and a plan in place to extract gas, should the monitoring show a problem.
Wow.
That’s really boring.
If we get the bigger than Japan’s last night 9.0 generated by the plates off S. Vancouver island they say we are overdue for, this will be moot….
News from Asia is instantaneous in this part of the world so since we are three hours and one day ahead of you all, we have been seeing some amazing footage.
Japan is as prepared for this as any country in the world, and way more so than we in the NW, but this will surely tax their resources. Japan’s USAR teams were the first in to Christchurch and just returned home a little more than a week ago. I’m sure you all have heard of all the mostly boat damage in Hawaii and along the W. Coast and S. Calif, but we should all ponder a 40 ft high wall of water that would surely push up into every cove, bay, river delta and downtown area of the Puget sound basin.
NZ got 39 inch or so surge early this am and they are warning everyone away from the beaches until the all clear later this afternoon. (It’s about 8:30 am here now)
Last nigh NZ civil defence issued an advisory for everyone in coastal areas to be ready to move to high ground and upgraded it to a warning a short time later, so in this seaside resort town we’re in the night was spent by just about everyone loading the cars and thinking about where to go and when. Today everyone is feeling more optimistic, but no one is walking on the beach as usual and whether or not the offshor power boat races is going to be held today is a question as those who would be viewing from the beach are advised not to. Swimming is prohibited due to strong currents and so far it has just stirred up a lot of sand in the bay, but the later surge this afternoon wioll come at high tide and cold drive the tide a little higher, though we ae not getting anything like Hawaii or the W. Coast. But to the north in Vanuatu, Karibiti, Tuvalu and other low lying islands they are very tense and experiencing some effects. Tuvalu is about a meter (39inches) at it’s highest point so they have the most to lose.
Certainly an interesting vacation pondering the force of nature along with the preparedness of man and some really incredible sights and places. If you don’t have a good sized disaster kit under consideration or construction you are not brave, you’re a fool……
Nothing like a major wake up call from mother nature.
Shaun could be right. If we have another grand-daddy quake, all that Dioxin and Mercury contamination from the former G.P. site could be deposited in downtown Bellingham. (Never mind what might happen to Dept of Ecology’s safe as can be “cover up” caps).
On a more serious note, my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families of all those that have been harmed by this catastrophic event.
Thanks for pointing that out, Elizabeth…
Yes, it is a tragic situation and my heart is also with those poor souls.
“Nothing like a major wake up call from mother nature.
Shaun could be right. If we have another grand-daddy quake, all that Dioxin and Mercury contamination from the former G.P. site could be deposited in downtown Bellingham. (Never mind what might happen to Dept of Ecology’s safe as can be “cover up” caps).”
LMAO!!
If we have an 8.9 earthquake off the Washington coast, the resulting tsunami might well deposit the Horizon Line ships in downtown Bellingham.
I can picture them “moored” on Cornwall Avenue. The smidgeon of “contamination” is going to be the least of anyone’s concerns.
What a tourist attraction and opportunity for economic growth! Think how happy Doug Tolchin would be!
This might no be the place, but this is the “Politics Blog”, and there’s nothing about Pete’s letter.
What could be more political, and what would invite more input?
With respect, I think the guys who run this blog should open a thread about this topic.
Agree with David.
Got to see my first tsunami surges today…. 7 and counting. The biggest at 4 feet on top of high tide and a normal 3 -4 foo surf at 12:30 our time and just an hour before the start of the offshore powerboat races that were held in Mercury Bay, Whitianga just opposite our hotel. The surges swirled and gurgled and came up to the road, knocked many boats together in the harbor and made for an exiciting testosterone and fear fueled day of racing and fretting…but thank god we’re not in Japan…for/to whom I send nothing but good thoughts and regrets….. g’day mates….
The effects of the disaster in Japan are beyond the ability of even the most extreme of planning efforts. Subsidence in many areas will place them under water for the foreseeable future, and has certainly exacerbated the effects of the tsunami.
On the subject of learning from experience, it’s not likely that, in the future, Japanese nuclear plant engineers will place backup generating facilities at an elevation that will place them at peril in the presence of a tsunami that might submerge them.
I would like to file that comment under, “The perils of even the most carefully-designed modern life.”
A personally-appropriate subfile might be titled, “Planning failures.”
A Smidgeon of contamination?
Only a Radical Conservative would consider over 11 tons of mercury buried on our waterfront a “Smidgeon” of contamination.
Your fatalistic approach to planning doesn’t exactly leave me feel warm and fuzzy, Dave. After all, it’s no secret that Bellingham’s waterfront is highly vulnerable to liquefaction.
And, it’s not “if” a 8.9 or 9.0 earthquake might happen in this region, it’s “when” it’s going to happen. The last 9.0 earthquake took place in the 1700′s. A wave, regardless of it’s source, could certainly spread contamination from several toxic sites along our waterfront.
It concerns me deeply to see an appointed planning commissioner make off-the-cuff remarks about the steps that this community, or any other community can take to prevent as much damage as humanly possible to people and property located along our lowland coastal areas.
Yes. Earthquakes cause damage. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t plan ahead to reduce the amount of damage, destruction and death that occurs from natural disasters. Consider this a wake up call, Mr. Planning Commissioner. And thank your lucky stars it didn’t happen here.
Re the Japanese: never underestimate the ingenuity and creativity of the Japanese people or their education system.
The Japanese government and businesses community will respond to a disaster of this magnitude by adopting advanced land use planning that will result in new zoning, (including restrictive zoning for residential, industrial and commercial development), more earthquake resistant structures, safer ports and a cleaner, safer environment. And they will do it with class and finesse.
The most concerning effect right now is the now 1,000 times normal radiation being blown at the West Coast by the melting down Fukushima Daichi 1 plant that suffered a serious explosion yesterday and around which 100,000 now have been ordered to evacuate by the one remain road in the region that is being used for escape and getting in emergency services. This is a global catastrophe as a nearby plant at Onagawa is also on fire. Watchdog groups, who say the Japanese government can’t be counted on to be forthcoming about the extent of the disaster believe int is a worst case China Syndrome event that will make chernobyl seem like a picnic, especially when the winds shift today or tonight with 1 million people just to the north and 4 million in Tokyo just to the south. Residents are being told to put wet towels over their faces…I guess maybe suffocation is an option….
Yes, Elisabeth, in the face of such events, where “market solutions” are unavailable to confront massive threats to society, the anti-planners are left with little but to belittle planners.
What do you think Onkels, in retrospect, would recommend, more planning or less planning?
And I imagine that there, like here, a constant chorus opposed and weakened regulation.
The profits of a few seem more important than the welfare of the many, until such shortsightedness becomes unavoidable during events such as these.
G.H.K.
Onkels and the conservatives will recommend less planning and fewer zoning restrictions. After all, the free market eventually corrects all evils – even if it kills an undetermined number of us in the process!
I’ve posted links to sobering earthquake data regarding Whatcom County and the state of Washington over on Latte.
While rebuilding areas like Kobe to be showpieces of earthquake readiness, the Japanese government has downplayed the exact threat we are seeing right now from the nukes close to the shore and fault lines that every scientist in the world of note has warned against. The reports that they were succeeding in cooling with seawater and the radiation levels were declining is being blasted throught this part of the world since at this point the agencies most invested in promoting nuclear power are the only ones privy to the data and those who are watchdoging such are claiming the opposit is occuring.
This quake was about 140k at sea. What is it from Satsop to the subduction zone off Vancouver Island, about double that? Washington state is about as unprepared for the quake we face as any place in the world can be. Here, like Japan, the populus is being lied to and misled into a false sense of confidence because we really can’t comprehend what has happened and what might happen in Washington, since we are just seeing it happen now for the first time in modern history….
When you look at what a 6.3 did in Christchurch and then contemplate that this quake was nearly 300 times more intense and that the aftershocks have been in the range of the great Alaska quake back in the sixties and one has been a 7.2. … They advise that a 7.5 could mean another tswunami felt throughout the Pacific rim. This is not hysteria and hype folks, this is real and we had better learn from it.
Sorry for the typos mates, but these dodgy hands don’t like this keyboard….
Shaun,
Thank you for driving my point home. This is not hysteria, nor hype. The danger is real and we have a number of issues that we need to address as a community before we have a catastrophic earthquake. Hazardous chemicals, old coal mines, liquifaction and, god forbid, the possibility that we could have a Tsunami right here in the Pacific Northwest.
Earthquakes don’t make the hit list of planning criteria because they’re geologic events without any reasonable measure of consequences.
Building codes can prevent damage in a moderate earthquake
where no requirements, no planning, no preparations can address the results of a large one.
Then there are the odds that a tremor will even strike in our lifetime,
be nearby enough to cause problems or create a concern over and above the immediate ones that demand our money and attention.
Believe it or not,
no other nation’s earthquake experiences are applicable elsewhere,
except the alarm.
I’m all for recognizing worst-case scenarios,
but nobody has the cash to react ahead of time to those.
And the bigger the disaster the more apparent that all the money spent on prep is wasted.
The downtown coal mines scare me most.
John, does a map exist of where the mines were?
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
The worrisome mines are the old ones under much of the downtown area. Those mines were shallow and therefore more dangerous on the surface. I have seen maps, but I don’t know how reliable they are.
The really big mine that operated in the northwest part of town into the 1950s is probably not dangerous at all, from what I’ve been told. It was very deep, and may already have collapsed without much effect on the surface.
That’s the one near the golf course I bet.
Some neat pictures are in the clubhouse of men going down the shaft right off #7 tee box.
I would think most of the shallow mines timbers should have rotted away long ago, causing them to collapsed also.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
I know a mapo of the coal mines exists in the archives because the Hedrald did many such articles on them back in the seventies and eighties when the remaining open mines were being sealed to prevent children from wandering into them…
It makes the downtown area look like swiss cheese beneath the pavement…..