Oil slime collects in a puddle along the shore of Swan Island Lagoon, a part of the Portland Harbor Superfund pollution cleanup site. (Jamie Francis/The Oregonian)
BY GORDON R. FRIEDMAN
The Environmental Protection Agency has set a firm timeline for as many as 150 parties responsible for cleanup of the polluted Portland Harbor Superfund to finish their negotiations and begin work at the site.
The EPA announced in January 2017 it had approved a $1 billion 13-year plan for cleanup of the site. Companies and governments responsible for funding it have haggled over their portion of the price tag ever since.
That the federal agency has set a hard-and-fast deadline for an end to those talks is significant in light of the complex nature of negotiations and the seemingly endless timelines accompanying the mammoth decontamination project.
"In the near term, our goal is to quickly negotiate and secure agreements with responsible parties so that construction design and cleanup work can begin as soon as possible," Chris Hladick, the regional EPA administrator, said Thursday.
"We know how important the Willamette is to the vitality of Portland and implementing our cleanup plan will make the river safer and healthier for all," Hladick said.
The EPA told the responsible parties of the new deadlines in a March letter, recently obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. In it, an EPA manager says the polluters must finish their talks by the end of 2019 and undertake "significant and substantial cleanup work" at contaminated sites "immediately" thereafter. Now-ousted EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was in power at that time the letter was issued.
“Although this is a very aggressive timeline, we’re glad to see EPA applying pressure to move things forward,” said Annie Von Burg, the city of Portland’s superfund manager.
An aerial view of the Port of Portland's Terminal 4, which is part of the Portland Harbor Superfund site. (Port of Portland)
Major portions of cleanup design should be finished or near completion by the end of 2019 to ensure cleanup of the most polluted sites can begin as soon as payment deal is reached, the letter says. Federal officials warned the polluters that “it should not be assumed” the EPA will extend its deadline if they fail to agree to a payment plan.
The hard deadline marks a significant change in rhetoric from the EPA since October 2017, when state officials and environmental advocates were concerned the direction from Pruitt was to unravel the cleanup plan altogether. Pruitt, tarred by revelations of lavish spending and ethical lapses, resigned in July.
The Portland Harbor Superfund site is a 10-mile stretch of Willamette River from downtown Portland, north to its confluence with the Columbia River. The riverbed and banks there are polluted with chemicals known to pose a risk to human and environmental health. Parties responsible for cleanup include the city of Portland, state of Oregon, the U.S. Department of Defense and a who's-who of corporate giants: British Petroleum, Burlington Northern, Chevron Texaco, ESCO, ExxonMobil, Monsanto, Schnitzer Steel, Shell, Union Pacific and many more.
It’s unclear what proportion of the bill will fall to public versus corporate bodies – except that it will be expensive all around.
A view of the Portland harbor near Swan Island. (Jamie Francis/The Oregonian)
The cleanup plan approved by EPA last year calls for dredging to remove more than 3 million cubic yards of polluted riverbed, covering nearly 90 acres of toxic soil and shoreline and setting some lands aside for a natural environmental recovery. Decontamination is intended to make seafood caught there safe to eat again and minimize people’s risk of cancer from polluted parts of the river.
Local environmental activists have for years hoped to see substantial progress on the river decontamination. The EPA letter offers a glimmer of hope.
“They have a hard deadline and they’re going to hold them to that,” Bob Sallinger, president of the Audubon Society of Portland said of said of the EPA. Sallinger, whose group has monitored the superfund site negotiations, said the EPA letter offers “a hopeful sign” that meaningful cleanups may soon begin.
– Gordon R. Friedman
Have a tip about Portland City Hall? Contact Gordon: GFriedman@Oregonian.com; 503-221-8209
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