Consider the alternative to retail car sales!
Eugene-Springfield metro area to be ranked
fifth worst in the nation in the American Lung
Association’s State of the Air 2005 report —
and 1999 EPA data showing dangerously
high levels of arsenic compounds in the air
over west Springfield.
New information might help residents
breathe easier.
The short-term particle pollution ranking
was largely due to wood-burning smoke from
Oakridge rather than Eugene-Springfield.
Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority
(LRAPA) data show that the air was haz-
ardous or unhealthy for sensitive groups to
breathe for 69 days — an average of 23 days
per year — between 2001 and 2003, the years
reflected in the State of the Air 2005 report.
But 55 of those poor air quality days were in
Oakridge, largely due to wood burning dur-
ing temperature inversions, when cold air
traps polluted hot air close to the ground.
Oakridge’s pollution skewed Eugene-
Springfield’s rank on ALA’s report, said
LRAPA spokesperson Kim Metzler.
ALA’s State of the Air 2006 report, to be
released on April 27, will reflect a steady im-
provement in Lane County’s air quality from
2002 to 2004. According to LRAPA air mon-
itoring data, there were 40 unhealthy and haz-
ardous air quality days in Oakridge and seven
in Eugene-Springfield between 2002 and
2004, averaging 16 days of poor air quality
per year — a 30 percent reduction from the
2005 figure. That may be enough to knock
Eugene-Springfield off of ALA’s State of the
Air 2006 worst-cities list for short-term parti-
cle pollution. 2004 was the best year on re-
cent record, with 10 poor air quality days, all
of them in Oakridge.
EW’s March 30 news story also men-
tioned EPA National Air Toxics Assessment
data showing high levels of arsenic com-
pound pollution over west Springfield. At the
time, Metzler said that LRAPA didn’t know
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BY PAUL NEEVEL
OLIVER
SORENSON
On summer vacation
from Hollywood High in
the 1940s, Oliver
Sorenson visited an
uncle in Washington
state. “He had the only
house on Lake Samish,”
Sorenson recalls. “I told
myself, ‘I’ve gotta come
back here.’” Eventually
Sorenson did move
north, to Beaverton,
and worked for the
Oregon Department of
Justice. He also earned
degrees in social work
and counseling in night
school at Portland
State, moved to Eugene
in ’73, and counseled
juvenile offenders for
the county until his
retirement in ’85. Since
then he has often trav-
eled abroad, lived out
of a backpack, and
stayed at youth hostels.
“My last trip was bicy-
cling in Cuba in 2004,” he says. “At 76 I don’t travel as much.” For the past three
years, Sorenson has volunteered several times a month for Planned Parenthood.
“He’s our most active volunteer,” says public affairs organizer Emily Alvarado. “He’s
at every event.” Sorenson is gearing up to campaign against a parental-notification
initiative on the fall ballot. “We just did a table at the UO Bookstore,” he says. “We’re
trying to maintain women’s right to choose.”
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APRIL 6, 2006 13