News
Page 4
Street Roots • May 22-28, 2015
Line
in the
sand
Port o f Portland wants
to change the law so it
can keep dum ping
dredge waste in West
Hayden Island's
natural area
B Y E M IL Y G R E E N
S T A F F W R IT E R
.
hen the City of Portland pulled
West Hayden Island from its list of
lands to be developed over the next
20 years, it inadvertently created a problem
for the Port of Portland.
West Hayden Island is the port’s
preferred dumpsite for dredging sediment —
•essentially a storage plot for contaminated
waste.
For Hayden Island residents and
environmentalists who have long fought the
port’s dumping practice, it was shaping up
to be a victory.
But a bill moving through the Oregon
Legislature would exempt the port from
existing environmental protections that, for
now, could make it illegal to dump dredging
spoils on the island’s undeveloped natural
area.
Before solid waste can be dumped onto
land outside a landfill, Oregon’s Department
of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rules
require the waste to have what they call a
“beneficial use.” According to DEQ Senior
Policy Analyst Tom-Roick, this means three
things: The waste must not pose
environmental or health risks, it must be
characterized, and it must have a planned,
productive use in its future.
“In the solid waste world, there’s a term
called ‘sham disposal,’ which is where a
party is basically just trying to find the
cheapest way to get rid of a solid waste,”
explains Roick, “and the productive use part
of (the beneficial use criteria) makes sure
that they are actually using it in a way that
has some benefit.”
For years, the port has cited the future
development of the West Hayden Island as a
project in which the dumped sediment will
be used, therefore fulfilling the productive
■
use requirement. Dredging sediment is
often used as construction filler. .
But now that the island won’t be
developed anytime soon, the Port of
Portland can no longer cite its future
development as a use for the sediment it
Stores there - sediment known by state
regulators to contain low levels of PCBs,
pesticides including DDT and heavy metals.
In order to be able to keep using the
island as a sediment dump, the Port of
Portland is supporting Senate Bill 412,
which would exempt Oregon ports from the
productive use portion of the beneficial use
law by designating all dredging sediment
productive, whether there are any plans for
its future use or not.
Those opposed to the bill say this would
render the word “productive” utterly
meaningless.
An earlier version of the same bill would
have exempted dredging material from all
DEQ oversight, but after the state
regulatory agency raised concerns, it was
amended to exempt ports from productive
use requirements only. DEQ is neutral on
the bill.
According to Port of Portland
spokesperson Steve Johnson, the site
currently housing dumped sediment covers
about 100 of the 826 undeveloped acres of
West Hayden Island. The sediment, while in
a designated area, is neither covered nor
contained inside any sort of protective
barrier.
“In terms of the environment,” says Bob
Sallinger, conservation director with the
Audubon Society of Portland, “it’s risk of
exposure for wildlife; for fish. It’s risk of
exposure for the community when this stuff
blows up into the air and blows around. We
think it’s really sad that the port is using
this amazing wildlife area to dump
contaminated sediment. We don’t need to
spread more contamination, around, we need
to clean it up.”
The Oregon Senate voted 30-0 to pass the
bill in April.
Environmentalists and Hayden Island
residents who were* absent from the bill’s
first public hearing in March made their way
to Salem Tuesday to testify at its second
hearing, urging the House Committee on
Energy and Environment to vote against
giving Oregon’s ports an “automatic stamp”
of approval on dumping dredging spoils.
Timme Helzer, a resident and business
owner on Hayden Island for 14 years,
See LINE IN THE SAND, page 5