Leading in Remediating Historic Contamination
Since the early-2000s, the Port of Everett has invested more than $33 million to cleanup historic contamination at the waterfront. The Port’s efforts, guided by the State’s Puget Sound Initiative and regulated by our partners at the Washington State Department of Ecology, represents 215 acres of waterfront now clean or under cleanup action.
The Port is restoring these former mill sites into sustainable, 21st Century job producing hubs to support trade and industry at the working waterfront; and residential, hospitality and recreation at the destination waterfront. In the next few years, the Port will double its environmental cleanup investment on the waterfront.
Bay Wood
former lumber & Mill site at preston point
In late 2020, the Port of Everett, in partnership with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), kicked-off a shoreline cleanup and habitat restoration at the Port’s vacant Bay Wood property — a former waterfront mill site located at the northern end of West Marine View Drive. The shoreline cleanup and restoration is an integral part of the Port’s efforts to revitalize the Bay Wood property into a new 13-acre waterfront job complex with the goal of creating up to 300 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs, and generating an estimated $330,000 a year in a state and local taxes.
The shoreline restoration sets out to create 1,300 linear feet (LF) of shoreline habitat and 2,300 LF of upland buffer habitat, clean up contaminated soil, and provide space for a new public access shoreline nature trail — the first public access to the site in its history. The $2.3 million shoreline cleanup and restoration work is being funded by a unique grant from Ecology that pays for 90 percent of the project.
Former Kimberly-Clark Mill Site
now norton terminal
After nearly a decade sitting idle, the former Kimberly-Clark mill site is slated to transform into a sustainable, 21st Century maritime hub to support the next generation of jobs and commerce at the working waterfront. This comes as a result of the Port of Everett’s recent acquisition of the property which effectively resulted in former property owner moving forward with an already planned second Interim Action Cleanup (IAC) under an Agreed Order with the Washington State Department of Ecology, and the removal of crushed material at the site using methods approved by the Snohomish Health District.
The multi-million dollar project cleaned and decommissioned exposed shoreline pipes, removed and properly disposed of an estimated 12,000 tons of contaminated soil (45,000 tons of contaminated soil was removed in the first IAC) and removed and properly disposed of an estimated 180,000 to 200,000 tons of crushed material. An estimated 400 temporary construction jobs were supported as a result. The cleanup took place March - December 2020.
Former Weyerhaeuser Mill-A Site
now south & Pacific terminals
In 2020, the Port of Everett is working with The Weyerhaeuser Company and the Washington State Department of Ecology to conduct a study that will determine the range of cleanup options for Weyerhaeuser’s former Mill A site that encompasses the Port’s South and Pacific Terminal berths at the Seaport, and the surrounding bay. The contamination in review stems from the former mill operations on site, and the study will present the options for cleaning it up. The cleanup options will take into account the requirements of the Port’s efforts to modernize its South and Pacific Terminals, which are being prepared to handle a more modern class of ships as the industry trends toward larger and more efficient ships. Additionally, the Port is using a unique combination of state loans and grants to fund the project to shovel ready status. The Port was recently awarded the first Ecology loan in many years, which will provide critical grant match funding as the Port pursues cost recovery from Weyerhaeuser. The Port is targeting cleanup to commence by 2024, once Ecology has decided on the final cleanup plan, the engineering design.
Ameron-Hulbert
The Port of Everett is preparing to take on its final phase of environmental cleanup in the northeast corner of Waterfront Place at the former Ameron-Hulbert industrial manufacturing site. The project sets out to remediate legacy contamination left behind from years of operation, and in turn, spurs opportunity for redevelopment of the former Ameron pole manufacturing facility to support the next generation of maritime business at the site. The final phase of cleanup is supported by a Department of Ecology remedial action grant and historic settlement funds from other responsible parties and is anticipated to begin in early 2021.
East Waterway
Developed in the early 1900s, the East Waterway was a hub of industry at the Everett Waterfront, being the home of two major mills, the Navy, shipyards, shipping terminals, and other industrial activities. With heavy and historic industry dating back to times when no environmental laws were in place and the sea was assumed to be vast and resilient, pollution was discharged into the bay. The historic pollution is now being addressed by the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) through the formal state cleanup process under an Agreed Order. The Port signed on to the Agreed Order with Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. (K-C), and the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The U.S. Department of the Navy (Navy) signed on to a separate Ecology Agreed Order to assist in the cleanup process. The project is just at the beginning stages and will likely take up to a decade to be addressed.
TC Systems
The Port acquired the Norton Industries property in 2019 to expand its land holdings in a critical location of the Waterfront Place Central Marine Craftsman District. As part of the acquisition, the Port took on a relatively small but ongoing formal cleanup site known as TC Systems — referring to a former leasehold operated by a company named TC Systems. In the acquisition, the estimated costs to accomplish the cleanup were considered in the purchase price. While the cleanup process has not yet been completed at this site, it is well on its way, having conducted studies and two interim cleanup actions. Coming up in 2021, the Port will work with the Department of Ecology on the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study, which will select the preferred cleanup option for the site.