Portions of Little Squalicum Park were determined contaminated by Washington State Department of Ecology in early 2009 and then oversight was transferred to the Environmental Protection Agency on Oct. 30, 2009.
The park was contaminated by past operations at the Oeser Co., an active wood treating business adjacent to the park.
Much of the contamination in the park was removed and buried offsite. The remainder of the contaminants will remain in the park, buried in the southeast corner of the park.
The Oeser site is one of the EPA’s Superfund sites. Superfund is the federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Oeser Co., which is owned by Ershigs Inc., is the largest pollutant in Whatcom County according to Conservation Northwest, a non-profit organization.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $1.5 million.
