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A new phase of environmental cleanup began Monday at the old site of the Weyerhaeuser maintenance facility in Bly, 45 miles east of Klamath Falls. The wood products company housed its log trucks, log yard machinery and other vehicles for 30 years before it closed in 1990.

When the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality reviewed the property in 2001, it declared it a high priority for further investigation and ultimately found that the soil and water were polluted.

Contractors for GSI Water Solutions, a private consulting firm hired by Weyerhaeuser, began work this week on the petroleum-contaminated soil.聽 The soil will be put in an on-site treatment facility that will use natural microbes to breakdown the oil.

The process is expected to be complete by the winter, and the soil will then be safe to return to the ground. Subcontractors are on the job for heavy equipment operations.

The work is being done under a cooperative agreement between Weyerhaeuser and DEQ, according to David Anderson, DEQ’s project manager.

鈥淲e’re trying to work jointly,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淪ometimes on a site we’ll have to put people under an order, and sometimes they don’t want to work with us because they don’t feel they need to do anything. But that’s not the case here.鈥�