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The Bellingham, Washington waterfront is dominated by the site of Georgia Pacific's former pulp, chemical plant and tissue mill, the latter slated to cease operations in December 2007. Controversy surrounds the current efforts to redevelop the site, particularly the issue of the disposal of mercury-contaminated sediments and soils. The property consists of two main portions: the plant site itself and the so-called Aerated Stabilization Basin (ASB), part of the plant's wastewater treatment system. The ASB is a large lagoon enclosed by an earthen breakwater built atop former tidelands across the Whatcom waterway from the plant site. The waterfront has served as an industrial center since the late nineteenth century. In the areas currently slated for redevelopment, salmon canning gave way to pulp and paper production in the early twentieth century. In 1963 the Georgia Pacific company purchased the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Company and operated a pulp mill on the central downtown waterfront until 2001. In 1965 Georgia Pacific built a Chlor-Alkali facility that operated until 1999. A tissue mill existed on the same site from 1926 and ceased operations December 21, 2007.〔http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2004085609_mill21m.html〕〔https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/gsp/Sitepage.aspx?csid=2279〕 While the siting of an industrial and chemical operation on the waterfront fell increasingly out of favor over the years, the plant was a significant source of family-wage employment for residents of the city. Portions of the waterfront are heavily contaminated due to the area's historical industrial uses. The environmental problems stem primarily from G-P's operation of the chlor-alkali plant to manufacture chlorine and other chemicals. The process released many tons of mercury into the Whatcom Creek waterway. Some areas of the upland portions of the site are also contaminated with significant concentrations of mercury. By contrast, the ASB—the only area scheduled for the removal of toxins—is clean. Other areas of the waterfront are contaminated as a result of the historic use as a municipal waste landfill, which served as a disposal ground for the waste while creating additional dry land. ==Redevelopment== In June 2006, Georgia Pacific sold the property (valued at US$37 million) to the Port of Bellingham for $10 in exchange for assuming responsibility for the environmental cleanup of the property. The company retained a lease on the portion of the property occupied by the tissue mill operation until it closed down. The city and port have entered into a partnership to jointly clean up and redevelop the property, which is to be branded "The Waterfront District." A general plan for the city's waterfront was developed several years ago by the (Waterfront Futures Group ), and the new (Waterfront Advisory Group ) has been convening to develop a more detailed plan focused on this particular site. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bellingham waterfront」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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