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Cornwall Avenue Landfill
 SITE DESCRIPTION
The Cornwall Avenue Landfill site (Site), located at the south end of
Cornwall Avenue, consists of approximately eight-acres and is adjacent to
Bellingham Bay. Most of the Site was originally tide flats and sub-tidal
areas of Bellingham Bay. From 1888 to 1946, the Site was used for sawmill
operations, including log storage and wood disposal. From 1946 to 1965,
the Port of Bellingham (Port) held the lease on the state-owned land, subleasing
the property to the City of Bellingham (City) from 1953 to 1962. The City
used the Site for municipal waste disposal. In 1962, the City entered into
a lease with another Port tenant (American Fabricators) who continued waste
disposal operations at the Site until 1965. Landfill operations ended at
the Site in 1965, and a soil layer was placed on top of the municipal waste.
Previous environmental investigations of the Site indicate the presence of
hazardous substances in groundwater, surface water, soil and/or sediments above
state cleanup standards, including arsenic, copper, lead, mercury, silver, zinc,
cyanide, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds and fecal coliform.
The Cornwall Avenue Landfill site is one of several cleanup sites identified in
the Bellingham Bay Comprehensive Strategy, a bay-wide guidance document issued
in 2000. The Comprehensive Strategy integrates sediment cleanup, control
of pollution sources, habitat restoration and aquatic/shoreline land use on a
bay-wide scale.
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), the Port, and the City have
negotiated a draft legal agreement (called an
agreed order) to perform an environmental study (called a
remedial investigation/feasibility study) at the Site. The agreed
order outlines the work to be performed and ensures that the site investigation
and cleanup activities are conducted in a timely fashion in accordance with all
applicable laws and regulations. In addition to negotiating a draft agreed
order with the Port and the City, Ecology has developed a
draft public participation plan outlining opportunities throughout the
process for the public to provide input.
Ecology has prepared a
Responsiveness Summary responding to comments received during a September
28, 2004 to October 28, 2004 public comment period on the draft Agreed Order
documents. The comments received did not result in changes to the
documents, therefore the documents are considered final.
For more information on this site please contact Lucy McInerney, Site Manager,
at Ecology’s WA State NW Regional Office, 3190 160th Avenue SE, Bellevue, WA,
98008-5452 or by email at lpeb461@ecy.wa.gov.
SITE DOCUMENTS
- November 2004
- September 2004
Related Information
Additional Resources
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SITE INFORMATION
Facility Site ID:
# 2913
Location:
Bellingham, Whatcom County
Contact:
Lucy McInerney, Site Manager
425/649-7272
Status:
Independent Remedial Action
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