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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2022
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APPEAL TRIBUNE
Study samples moss
to test for pollutants
Tracy Loew Salem Statesman Journal | USA
Strawberries
Continued from Page 1A
a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays
Information:
h southbarlowberries.com
h South Barlow Berries (Facebook)
ville
Phone: 503-472-4933
Strawberry
u-pick
season
starts:The first weekend in June
Open: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day
Information:
h bernardsfarm.com
h
h Bernards Farm (Facebook)
TODAY NETWORK
CORVALLIS
A new study of pollutants in moss near
the Covanta Marion garbage incinerator
shows elevated levels of heavy metals
from samples taken closest to the facility,
located north of Salem in Brooks.
The study was too small to be conclu-
sive, it’s authors say, but the results indi-
cate a need for further testing.
“Utilizing (the closest) sample as an in-
dicator, there is reason to suspect high lev-
els of heavy metal pollution being intro-
duced into the air in the area nearby to the
incinerator,” the report from Vancouver,
Wash.-based Advantage Environmental
states.
Beyond Toxics, a Eugene environmen-
tal justice nonprofit, funded the study,
which took moss samples near schools at
various distances from the incinerator.
Executive director Lisa Arkin said the
group has been frustrated with the slow
pace of Oregon’s Cleaner Air Oregon pro-
gram, meant to close a loophole in state
law that allows polluters to emit danger-
ous levels of toxic chemicals while oper-
ating legally.
Gov. Kate Brown launched the program
in 2016, after a U.S. Forest Service moss
study found a Portland neighborhood had
been contaminated with dangerous levels
of heavy metals coming from nearby Bull-
seye Glass.
Covanta was among the first 20 pollut-
ers called into the program in March 2019.
All were supposed to complete “risk as-
sessments” within a year. So far, none
have finished.
“After hearing concerns about the air
toxics emissions from local community
members, we asked the DEQ to do more
environmental sampling. The agency has
consistently declined,” Arkin said.
“We feel that environmental sampling
is necessary due to the age of the incine-
rator, the amount of medical waste they
process, the other types of industrial
waste they accept for incineration, the
significant amount and varied types of
air pollution they are responsible for, and
the fact that the DEQ doesn’t have a thor-
ough process to determine health risks
from dioxins and heavy metal emissions
that travel offsite,” Arkin said.
Moss as a bioindicator
In the winter of 2013 U.S. Forest Service
workers collected moss from 346 locations
in Portland, testing the samples for heavy
metals.
The study revealed two hotspots,
where cadmium, a heavy metal that can
cause cancer and damage lungs and kid-
neys, was measured many times higher
than elsewhere in the city.
DEQ followed up with air monitoring,
and in 2016 found unhealthy levels of cad-
mium and arsenic, another cancer-caus-
ing heavy metal, in the air around Bullseye
Glass in Southeast Portland and Uroboros
Glass in North Portland.
The companies were following all state
requirements for controlling emissions.
Scientists have used moss as a biologi-
cal indicator of air pollution since the late
1960s, a Forest Service report on the Port-
land testing noted.
“Past studies have shown that levels of
pollutants in moss correlate with atmos-
pheric air pollution measured by instru-
ments, suggesting that moss can comple-
ment existing networks of air quality
monitors,” the report stated.
In its Covanta study, Advantage Envi-
ronmental used the same sampling meth-
odology as the Forest Service did in Port-
land, although at a smaller scale.
The company sampled moss near three
schools at varying distances from the in-
cinerator.
The closest sample was taken near the
former Brooks Elementary School, about a
third of a mile from the facility.
The next was taken near Chemawa In-
dian School, about three miles southwest
of the facility.
The farthest sample was taken near
Gervais Elementary school, about five
miles northeast of the facility.
Moss samples were collected at least
one meter off the ground to avoid con-
tamination from sprays and pets. They
were immediately stored at 39.2 F, then
dried for 24 hours at 104 F.
The samples were then sent to Special-
ty Analytical in Clackamas for analysis.
The result: Moss collected near Brooks
Elementary, closest to the incinerator, had
double the levels of barium, cadmium,
chromium, lead and mercury as those col-
lected farthest from the site.
Moss data are an indicator, but don’t
carry health thresholds. DEQ air monitor-
ing would be necessary to determine
whether any hotspots are dangerous.
“Our hypothesis was that finding a pat-
tern of heavy metals in tree moss consistent
with proximity to the incinerator would sug-
gest that heavy metals deposition is related
to the incinerator emissions (rather than
other sources or random presence of heavy
metals). Our conclusion is that our hypothe-
sis is supported by the data,” Arkin said.
“We are concerned about these pollut-
ants impacting schools located in close
proximity to the incinerator,” she said.
Further sampling requested
Covanta’s
36-year-old
incinerator
SALEM
Davis Family Farm
Where: 4380 NE Highway 20, Cor-
vallis
Phone: 541-752-0697
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
Tentatively, June 9, but check their
Facebook page
Open: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day
Information: Davis Family Farm
(Facebook)
Fairfield Farm
Moss was collected from near
Willamette Valley Christian School,
above, and two other schools for
heavy metals. The moss from near
Brooks Elementary, the closest to the
Covanta Marion, had double the level
of five heavy metals as samples
collected farthest from the site.
ABIGAIL DOLLINS/STATESMAN JOURNAL
burns most of Marion County’s residential
and commercial waste, generating elec-
tricity that it sells to Portland General Elec-
tric.
Neighbors and environmental groups
have said for years they don’t know
enough about what the incinerator is
burning, and what’s coming out of its
smokestack.
They say they’re particularly con-
cerned about out-of-state medical waste
burned at the facility. That waste can have
high levels of plastics, which can create
dioxins, particulate matter and other
harmful pollutants when burned.
Beyond Toxics met with DEQ on May
23 and asked officials to follow up its moss
study with further air sampling.
“Our recommendation is that the DEQ
should test for heavy metals (and dioxins)
in nearby locations in light of our prelimi-
nary data,” Arkin said. “We are concerned
about these pollutants impacting schools
located in close proximity to the incinera-
tor.”
DEQ spokesman Harry Esteve said the
department still is reviewing the report.
But he downplayed its significance.
“A very preliminary review (of Beyond
Toxics’ study) shows levels of heavy met-
als that are consistent with what we’d ex-
pect in a populated environment,” he said.
Moss sampling can provide a screening
of the presence of certain pollutants in the
environment, but can’t be used to charac-
terize emissions from a particular source,
Esteve said.
“Sampling moss shows a cumulative
sense of environmental impact, and can-
not provide any sense of time-scale or in-
dicate what direction the metals may have
come from,” he said.
And, there are no health standards that
relate to levels of metals in moss, Esteve
said.
More valuable information can be pro-
vided by source testing, or measuring lev-
els of pollution as emissions leave the
stack, which DEQ has required Covanta to
do under the Cleaner Air Oregon program,
Esteve said.
Covanta spokeswoman Nicolle Robles
declined to comment on the study.
Where: 29204 Lakeside Dr., Corval-
Fordyce Farm
Where: 7023 Sunnyview Rd NE, Sa-
lem
Phone: (503) 362-5105
Strawberry u-pick season starts-
:June 7
Open: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday
through Saturday
Information:
h fordycefarm.com
Minto Island Growers
lis
Phone: 541-760-8163
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
Tentatively, the weekend of June 11, but
check their Facebook page first.
Information:Fairfield Farm (Face-
book)
DALLAS
Where: 3394 Brown Island Rd S, Sa-
lem
Phone: 503-931-6840
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
To be determined, possibly the third or
fourth weekend in June
Open: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday
through Sunday
Information: Minto Island Growers
Rick Johnson Farm
Sliverfarm Fruit
Where: 6000 Perrydale Road, Dallas
Phone: 503-623-2713
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
Tentatively, the first or second week-
end in June
Open: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.
Information:Sliverfarm
Fruit
(Facebook)
Where: 3310 Perkins Street NE, Sa-
lem
Phone: 503-393-0859
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
To be determined, possibly at the end
of the second week of June, so keep an
eye on their Facebook page.
Open: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays
through Saturdays
Information: Rick Johnson Farm
(Facebook)
DAYTON
Stuart Olson Farms
Jeff and Jen’s U-Pick
Where: 18265 SE Neck Road, Dayton
Phone: 503-560-9275
Strawberry u-pick season started:
June 1
Open: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day
Information:
h Jeff and Jen’s (Facebook)
h jeff-and-jens-u-pick.
business.site
Where: 6925 Joseph St SE, Salem
Phone: 503-362-5942
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
Tentatively, June 9 or 10
Open: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday
through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday. For u-pick, get there at least
an hour before closing.
Information:
h olsonfarms.com
h
h Stuart Olson Farms (Facebook)
HUBBARD
ST. PAUL
Boones Ferry Berry Farms
French Prairie Gardens
Where: 19602 Boones Ferry Road
NE, Hubbard
Phone: 503-678-5871
Strawberry u-pick season started:
May 30
Open: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday
through Friday (no u-pickers after 5:30
p.m.), 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Information:
h boonesberry.com
h
h Boones Ferry Berry Farms (Face-
book
Where: 17673 French Prairie Road
NE St. Paul
Phone: (503) 633-8445
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
Strawberries available only during
Berries, Brews, and BBQ’s festival the
first three weekends in June, 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Information:
h FPGardens.com
h
h French Prairie Gardens (Facebook)
Koch Family Farm
JEFFERSON
Cleaner Air Oregon process
Greens Bridge Gardens
The Cleaner Air Oregon program is
supposed to help the public know exactly
what toxic chemicals are in facilities’ air
emissions, evaluate whether those con-
taminants pose a risk to health and, if nec-
essary, work to reduce those risks.
DEQ identified more than 350 facilities
for inclusion in the program. But at the
current pace, it will take decades to get to
them all.
DEQ has said risk assessments are
proving more challenging than expected.
“We haven’t gotten to that stage of get-
ting a completed risk assessment for any
of those existing sources,” said J.R. Giska a
Cleaner Air Oregon official. “Nobody has
had to reduce risk yet.”
DEQ granted Covanta five extensions
to its November 2020 deadline to submit
stack testing results.
Covanta completed the testing this
March, but deviated from some elements
of its DEQ-approved testing plan. It retest-
ed some, but not all, of those elements,
Giska said.
DEQ decided that the data was repre-
sentative enough to use for the emissions
inventory.
Testing is just the first step in the
Cleaner Air Oregon process.
It will take DEQ at least a month to ap-
prove the test data, Giska said.
Then, Covanta will have 30 days to sub-
mit a final emissions inventory to DEQ for
review. Once that’s approved, Covanta has
30 days to submit a modeling protocol, de-
tailing how they will develop a model to
look at how emissions are dispersed. After
DEQ approves the protocol, Covanta has
120 days to submit a risk assessment to
DEQ.
The risk assessment will be used to de-
termine whether any changes should be
made to Covanta’s air quality permit.
Tracy Loew is a reporter at the States-
man Journal. She can be reached at
tloew@statesmanjournal.com, 503-399-
6779 or on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew.
Where: 3730 Jefferson Scio Dr SE,
Jefferson
Phone: 541-327-2995
Strawberry
u-pick
season
starts:The farm is “soft opening”
strawberry picking now for customers
to pick “a bowl or so” of berries, but
check their Facebook page for updates.
Open: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day
Information:
Greens
Bridge
Gardens (Facebook)
MCMINNVILLE
Bernards Farm
Where: 4745 Raybell Road NE, St.
Paul
Phone: 503-502-8399 to check for
U-pick strawberry availability
Strawberry u-pick season starts:
June 2
Open: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day
Information:
h kochfamilyfarm.com
h
h Koch Family Farm (Facebook)
Claire Withycombe is a state gov-
ernment reporter for the Statesman
Journal. You can reach her at 503-910-
3821
or
cwithycombe@statesmanjournal.com.
Bill Poehler and Emily Teel contrib-
uted reporting. Poehler covers Marion
County for the Statesman Journal and
Teel was the Statesman Journal’s for-
mer Food and Drink Editor.
Where: 18755 Highway 18, McMinn-
Right: Fordyce Farm owner Raymond Fordyce feeds strawberries to his
granddaughter, Beatrice Derham, 2, during a strawberry-themed breakfast on
Saturday at their farm. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL