BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The state is celebrating a major milestone in the decades-long effort to clean up Bellingham Bay.

The Washington State Department of Ecology says it’s been 30 years since a group formed to clean up contaminated areas around the waterfront.

That group – now called the Bellingham Bay Action Team – was made up of local agencies and governments including the Port of Bellingham, City of Bellingham, Whatcom County Health Department, Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe.

The team also included state and federal agencies, along with Georgia-Pacific West, who owned the pulp and tissue mill on the Bellingham waterfront. Georgia-Pacific sold the 137-acre waterfront property to the Port of Bellingham for just $10 and the port assumed the legal responsibility for cleaning it up.

Since that group formed, there’s been more than $300 million invested into the project, with roughly a third of that funding coming from grants provided by the state’s Model Toxics Control Act. There’s also been over 138,000 tons of contaminated sediment removed.

Of the 12 cleanup sites in the Bellingham Bay area, two have been completely cleaned up while most of the other 10 are in progress.

My Bellingham Now previously reported that the Port of Bellingham recently approved a plan for the final phases of cleanup at the site of the former pulp and tissue mill. Construction is expected to begin in November and last three to five years.

Once the cleanup is complete, the port plans to redevelop the property for commercial, industrial, retail and residential use.