Airport Waste Dump

A Port of Bellingham Project

Airport Waste Dump

The For years, from 1984 through 1993, the Port allowed Georgia Pacific to truck pulp mill wastes out to the remote west side of the Bellingham Airport. Now the Port is trying to get it cleaned up - quietly.

The State Department of Ecology office in Bellingham - a mere few hundreds yards from the dump site - knew nothing about this transporting and dumping. Nothing at all. Didn't know about ground water toxic contamination at the airport. Nothing.

So - are the Port and GP cooperating in an illegal process? Does the state DOE in Olympia know but has not informed the Bellingham office? Why? Where is the inspection?

One thing is for sure. Bellingham residents have been kept in the dark.

The bottom line question: What is being dumped into our bay?

Friday, Nov 30, 2001

So, how much toxic waste chemicals are pooled out at the airport? We do know that for weeks, the Port has been helping Georgia Pacific to transport tens of thousands of gallons every day down to the Bellingham waterfront for dumping and being allowed to flow into Bellingham Bay. See photos below.

I visited the Bellingham office of the Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) and learned that they knew nothing about this. They did not know of waste or hazardous chemicals in the ground water at the airport and knew nothing about the weeks of trucking of the polluted water to the Bellingham Waterfront.

Two Port officials gave some information. GP was given permission by the Port to dump pulp mill waste "sludge" at the airport from 1984 to 1993. This has now leached chemicals into the ground water. This water is now being trucked to the GP treatment lagoon.

However, our photos show the "water" being emptied onto a normal asphalt parking lot and allowed to run into storm drains.

Here are some first questions for DOE, GP and the Port of Bellingham.
- Where are the permits for trucking this waste to our waterfront and through our city?
- What is in the waste water?
- Why is it being dumped on a parking lot?
- Does DOE even know if the lagoon can properly cleanse the waste?
- Why does DOE know nothing about this?
- Where is the DOE inspection and enforcement process for safety?
- Why was our airport used as a toxic waste site for 10 years by the Port?
- Where else were these chemicals dumped in past years? Since 1993? Before 1984?

Check these three photos taken recently. This activity goes on every day and has for weeks.

Below is the truck entering Gate 5 at the airport. This truck has made 6 to 8 round trips a day for several weeks from the airport down to the Bellingham water front. The truck tanks hold an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 gallons.

Below is the truck heading off to the west side of the runways to have its tanks pumped full of toxic wastes. A Port of Bellingham security vehicle comes over to open the gate. However, as I watched, no security check of the driver was made - the security person never got out of his vehicle - and the gate stayed open for a minute after security and the truck left. Anyone could have easily walked or driven through undetected. With no check of the truck cab, there could have been a couple people sitting on the passenger side and unnoticed.

Below. The full truck drives through the streets of Bellingham down to the waterfront and dumps its full load of thousands of gallons of waste and toxic water onto the parking lot behind the GP warehouse. The truck is about 1/3 down from the top of the photo. This photo looks east, with the treatment lagoon to the right. Note the water gushing out the bottom of the truck and on to the parking lot, flowing left - past the driver standing next to the pond of waste - and apparently down drains on the parking lot. For contrast, note the sea lion sleeping on the wood float at the bottom of the photo.

Ahhh yes, here we Bhamsters are - continuing to pollute our waterfront while DOE says they know nothing and the Port says all is normal and OK. If I included more of the left side of the photo then you could almost see the DOE Bellingham office.

Expect officials to do some quick smoke and mirrors work and then change the process. What is happening now will not continue. They will say all was OK, except for a little paper work but this process will be changed.