Around the Sound: Cornet Bay Marina cleanup starting

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Cleanup work at the Cornet Bay Marina site on Whidbey Island is set to start the week of Dec. 16.

The 1.1-acre site at 200 Cornet Bay Road sits along Deception Pass and next to an entrance to Deception Pass State Park. It offers boat moorage and an on-dock marine fueling station.
In addition to the site map at right, check out more photos on our Cornet Bay Flickr gallery.

What’s going to happen

An underground storage tank located on land leaked gasoline and diesel fuel in the 1980s. The plan is to remove soil and treat groundwater contaminated by those leaks.

Ecology’s project contractor, Glacier Environmental Services of Mukilteo, will install a sheet pile bulkhead to replace the marina’s timber bulkhead on the shoreline. The new bulkhead will prevent contaminated water from reaching Cornet Bay.

Next, a system to pump contaminated groundwater will treat and release the water into Cornet Bay. The contractor will remove contaminated soil and replace it with clean soil. Temporary platforms will make the marina accessible during the project.

The marina’s store will be moved a short distance on to Deception Pass State Park land. The store and the fuel station will be closed during the work.

Expect noise, traffic impacts

Installing the sheet pile bulkhead likely will cause some noise. The project could affect vehicle traffic on Cornet Bay Road, too. You can find out more about that on our Cornet Bay Marina website.

We see this cleanup as another opportunity to improve and protect part of Puget Sound. In particular, the project will safeguard the waters of Cornet Bay and Deception Pass from pollution that otherwise could reach them.

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