Rebuilding the Waterfront Economy

When Georgia-Pacific shut down its Pulp, Paper and Chemical Plant on Bellingham’s downtown waterfront, over 1200 people lost good paying jobs.  The land was privately-owned, vacant, contaminated and at risk of sitting fenced-off and underutilized for many years due to the high cost of cleaning up historic contamination. One of the primary reasons the Port acquired the Georgia-Pacific property was to help overcome the burden of historic contamination and rebuild the waterfront economy.  As part of the property transaction, the Port required Georgia-Pacific to purchase an environmental insurance policy protecting the Port against cleanup cost overruns.  Much of the property is now clean and ready for commercial, industrial, educational, recreational and residential uses.  The waterfront economy is once again thriving with companies like All American Marine and Silfab solar expanding to waterfront and creating hundreds of new jobs for Whatcom County residents.