Top Stories

POSTED: Monday, Sep. 21, 2009

Soil, water samples mark start of environmental study at former G-P West site

BELLINGHAM — Crews are drilling test wells and removing soil from the former Georgia-Pacific West Inc. property through Oct. 5 to determine the extent of environmental cleanup required on the waterfront site.

The $500,000 sampling project is on 64 acres owned primarily by the Port of Bellingham, which bought them in 2005 as part of redevelopment plans for the waterfront. The state of Washington owns other parts of the site.

Samples of water and soil taken during the field work will be analyzed for the environmental study required under a legal agreement signed between the port and the state Department of Ecology on Aug. 25.

Contaminants expected to be found at the former G-P operations are mercury, metals and petroleum hydrocarbons as well as chromium and formaldehyde.

The port is working on the cleanup of the former industrial site under an agreement with Ecology, which is overseeing the effort under the state Model Toxics Control Act.

Because the site is publicly owned, the port may apply for a grant from Ecology that will reimburse $250,000 of the sampling costs.

The port bought the property at 300 W. Laurel St. in January 2005 from Georgia-Pacific, and the sampling project will determine what type of contaminants are there, where they’re located on the site, and the extent of contamination.

Results will determine the scope of the cleanup. The public will be able to comment on the evaluation and environmental study in about a year, according to Ecology.

On Monday, Sept. 21, crews from Seattle-based Aspect Consulting and Cascade Drilling of Woodinville worked in an area where paper was manufactured from 1925 to 2007. They used a sonic drill to dig one of two deep wells on the site.

“It’s basically vibrating its way down,” said Robert Hanford, a geologist working for Aspect, as he talked about the drill.

The well will go 50 feet below the surface and help crews learn whether a layer of clay and silt separate the contaminated aquifer above from the clean aquifer they suspect is beneath it, said Brian Gouran, environmental site project manager for the Port of Bellingham.

In total, crews will put in 20 new wells — most 15 to 20 feet deep — and 50 new soil borings during the field project, Gouran said.

“This whole area will be pin-cushioned,” he said

The new information compiled through the 120 soil samples and 100 groundwater samples will be combined with previous studies done by G-P going back to 1994.

“We’ll have a lot of data on this site,” Gouran said.

LEARN MORE ONLINE Additional information about the planned cleanup at the Georgia-Pacific West site is available by going to ecy.wa.gov, clicking on “Cleanup” from the top menu bar, and then “Site List by County” under “Cleanup Sites.” Scroll down to “Whatcom” and select “Georgia-Pacific West.”