Bellingham’s R.G. Haley International and Cornwall Avenue Landfill sites, more commonly known as Glass Beach, are currently undergoing construction amid contamination cleanup efforts.
The sites have a longstanding reputation of contamination. R.G. Haley was historically involved in various industrial operations up until 1985. Additionally, Cornwall Avenue Landfill served as the city’s landfill from 1954 to 1965 and was used for sawmill operations post 1965.
The city of Bellingham contracted IMCO General Construction to facilitate the project. This selection followed IMCO General Construction offering the lowest bid for a project cost, estimated at $48 million.
Construction on these sites is expected to take 3 years to complete. During that time, public access to Glass Beach will not be permitted. The area will reopen as Salish Landing Park following the cleanup.
“I think it'll be an amazing new part of Bellingham, providing more open space and access along the waterfront, which will be incredible after so many years of having that space closed off,” said Kristen Forkeutis, community outreach specialist for the Washington Department of Ecology.
The clean up and restoration of these sites can be traced to the Model Toxics Control Act, a Washington state environmental law which provides requirements for contaminated site cleanup in order to protect human health and the environment.
These sites are part of the 12 contaminated sites in Bellingham Bay, which are coordinated through the Bellingham Bay Action Team (BAT). BAT serves as a multi-agency effort to clean up contaminated sites bay-wide and work to restore habitats.
Kamra Greenwall-Cox (she/her) is a city news reporter for The Front this quarter. She is a fourth-year environmental journalism major. Outside of reporting on the city of Bellingham, Kamra enjoys practicing aerial arts and reading. You can reach her at kamragreenwallcox.thefront@gmail.com
