The American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) Washington chapter has awarded GeoEngineers the Best in State Silver Award for Exceeding Client Expectations for the Former Scott Paper Mill Remediation and Restoration project at the Port of Anacortes (WA).This annual program recognizes the state’s best engineering achievements, and the awards are among the most prestigious in the industry.
The 41-acre Former Scott Paper Mill site was used for industrial purposes from around 1890 to 1979, contaminating the soil, groundwater and sediments with hydrocarbons, dioxin, PCBs, metals and wood waste. Though industrial activities had been discontinued for decades, the property remained contaminated and the potential costs to complete remediation and lingering technical and legal issues stalled any efforts to redevelop the site.
In 2007, GeoEngineers began working with the Port to determine how it could remediate the site and recover the costs associated with the project. The project is part of the Port’s Focus Fidalgo environmental program, which takes an integrated approach to removing contaminants, restoring aquatic habitat and improving public facilities along the waterfront on five different sites on Port property.
The Former Scott Paper Mill site was the largest of the Port’s Focus Fidalgo projects and the largest shoreline and sediment cleanup completed in Washington under the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) and Ecology’s Puget Sound Initiative.
