OSPIRG, NEDC forge environmental lawsuit
■A local company faces
allegations of water pollution
near Rattlesnake Creek
By Lindsay Buchele
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon state PIRG and the
Northwest Environmental Defense
Center have joined forces to sue an
alleged Eugene polluter and the
Department of Environmental
Quality, but a permit recently ob
tained by the company may hinder
their suit.
Giustina Resources Dexter Sort
Yard, which sorts timber to be dis
tributed to saw mills, received a
60-day notice of intent to sue on
March 15 from the Oregon State
Public Interest Research Group
and the NEDC.
The two groups are filing a fed
eral Clean Water Act lawsuit
against the company, contending it
illegally discharged pollutants into
Rattlesnake Creek, a Willamette
River tributary located off High
way 58.
The Lane Community College
branch of OSPIRG said it became
aware of the alleged pollution after
one of LCC’s instructors, who lives
by the sort yard, said he had seen
oil-like substances floating in Rat
tlesnake Creek several times over
the past five years.
The LCC and University branch
es of OSPIRG presented the situa
tion to the state PIRG in order to
file a lawsuit for the company’s
failure to obtain a storm water per
mit. Student branches of the organ
ization are not allowed to file their
own lawsuits.
“We went out ourselves and saw
the seriousness of the situation,”
said Jill Katzenberger, an LCC OS
PIRG member. “The majority of it
looked like oil and grease and is
probably auto by-products.”
Katzenberger said Giustina had
no permit from the DEQ as of
March 15 to discharge substances
into storm runoffs, which eventual
ly end up in the Willamette River.
But according to Giustina’s land
manager Peter Sikora, the compa
ny requested a storm water dis
charge permit in January and re
ceived one March 8. Sikora also
said that Giustina had no idea
such pollution was taking place
until the press conference held by
OSP1RG on March 15, during
which the notice of intent to sue
was issued.
“We have people whose job it is
to patrol our site and determine if
there are any problems,” Sikora
said. “This site is only a sorting
yard and we’ve never seen any
thing like this.”
Sikora said since the press con
ference, Giustina has taken imme
diate action to absorb the pollu
tants and intends to define the
source and control any further dis
charge.
It is outrageous that
DEQ would take such a
clear step to protect
polluters.
Brent Foster
environmental lawyer
Brent Foster, an environmental
lawyer who is handling state PIRG
and NEDC’s suit against Giustina,
said Giustina got the storm water
The Giustina Resources Dexter Sort Yard has been the target of an intent-to-sue
motion by the Oregon state PIRG for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act
Hwy. 126/^^
Eugene
Dexter
G i u stina Reso u rces
/Dexter Sort Yard
Brooke Mossefin Emerald
permit only after the student PIRG
brought the problem to their atten
tion.
“Giustina’s been going along its
merry way without a permit for six
years,” Foster said. “Before OS
PIRG students started making a
stink, getting a permit wasn’t on
their schedule. When the DEQ vis
ited their site, they did not have a
permit,”
Foster also said the Eugene of
fice of the DEQ neglected its duties
by not monitoring Giustina and by
taking over a month to investigate
the polluted site after state PIRG
officials notified the department.
Both Giustina and state PIRG are
waiting for the DEQ’s test results
on the substances found at the site.
Foster also said DEQ assured
state PIRG that they would not
give Giustina a permit before the
actual lawsuit began.
“It is outrageous that DEQ
would take such a clear step to
protect polluters,” Foster said.
But DEQ environmental specialist
Bill Perry said the DEQ never said it
would deny Giustina a permit.
“They applied for a permit and
were granted one,” Perry said.
Sikora said it came to Giustina’s at
tention that they needed a permit for
the sorting site and that’s why they
applied for one, not because of state
PIRG’s recent intent-to-sue notice.
Despite the lawsuit, Sikora said
Giustina is thankful that the prob
lem was brought to their attention
and can now be resolved.
Since Giustina has received a
permit from DEQ, Foster said the
company is placed into the state
environmental system, which
means they will be monitored
more closely and be held account
able for further violations of the
Clean Water Act.
“We will continue to review
what’s going on with the permit
and assess the situation,” Foster
said. “This does not eliminate our
notice of intent-to-sue.”
Sikora said Giustina will contin
ue to monitor its site and wait for
the DEQ’s test results on the sub
stances found at the site.
“We would appreciate getting
contacted by groups like OSPIRG if
a problem arises instead of getting
an intent-to-sue notice,” Sikora
said. “People talking to people is
always the best approach.”
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