Editing Commencement Bay (section)

==Environmental issues==
For much of the 20th century a large smelting facility was operated by [[ASARCO]] on the shore of Commencement Bay near Point Defiance. The town of [[Ruston, Washington|Ruston]] surrounds the former ASARCO plant. Tailing waste was dumped into the bay, eventually forming a long peninsula. Today it is a project area within the Commencement Bay [[Superfund]] site.<ref>[http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/nplpad.nsf/e144fa5b179a8a0388256365007ef6eb/06e1c0cda0d11fc285256594007559fd?OpenDocument Commencement Bay, Nearshore/Tideflats], Environmental Protection Agency</ref>

The [[Thea Foss Waterway]], an arm of Commencement Bay near downtown Tacoma, was declared a Superfund site in 1983. In 1991, the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] announced that the St. Paul Waterway, once among the most contaminated parts of Commencement Bay, had been the first marine Superfund site in the nation to be cleansed of pollution.<ref>{{cite book |last= Dorpat |first= Paul |author2=Genevieve McCoy |title= Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works |year= 1998 |publisher= Tartu Publications |isbn= 0-9614357-9-8 |pages= 322}}</ref>