Fidalgo Bay. Update: May 21, 2011
The re-opening of the Seafarers’ Memorial Park has been finished. This $34 million dollar project was completed in three phases over a nearly two year period, with clean-up efforts accomplished in partnership with the Department of Ecology and the Kimberly Clark Corporation, former owner of the Scott Paper Mill. This was the third of five Port environmental clean-up projects.
"A lumber mill, and later a pulp mill operated on the Scott Paper Mill Site beginning in the late 1800s through the late 1970s. The pulp mill used waste from the lumber mill and discharged waste water directly to Fidalgo Bay. Metals, diesel- and motor oil-range petroleum hydrocarbons, carcinogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dioxins/furans have been found in soil at the Site above Washington State cleanup levels. Many of these contaminants were also found in groundwater (low levels) and marine sediments. In 1999, the Port of Anacortes and Sun Healthcare Systems conducted an independent cleanup action to remove petroleum-contaminated soil and wood debris on one of the parcels within the Site. Portions of the property have been operated recently by multiple entities that have used the Site as a log yard, a staging area for oil field equipment, a boat manufacturing site, storage, and a modular home assembly area. The northern portion of the Site is now primarily Seafarers’ Memorial Park, and the southern portion is primarily vacant. For nearly 100 years, mill operations dominated the Anacortes waterfront along Fidalgo Bay. First a sawmill started up, followed later by a pulp mill. But by 1978, Scott Paper had closed both mills. The property was used for other industrial purposes in following years. The mills left behind widespread contamination from their operations, ranging from wood waste to industrial chemicals."
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