BAD
AIR
DAYS
Eugene neighborhoods are
downwind from polluters
JOANNE GROSS
BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
oanne Gross is a stay-at-home mom with
two sons. She and her husband, Scott,
bought a house in west Eugene where Scott
can bike to work, and she can grow food in
her garden. Standing in front of her house
on a hot summer evening, while her sons,
Ian and Connor, play with their friends on
the quiet street, Joanne points to the food
she grows in her front yard. What look like
decorative shrubs are sweet potatoes,
artichokes and herbs. Hops wend their way
up the chimney — Scott is a home brewer
— and kiwis, figs and grapes adorn the yard. Joanne says
it’s the garden that lets them afford to have her stay home,
and Scott’s bike commute to the mill keeps him in shape and
keeps them a one-car family.
J
BAXTER
1 J.H.
(Wood treatment and chemical manufacturing plant)
85 N. Baxter Road
NEARBY: 7,000 residents live within 1 mile of the plant and it’s 100
feet from the nearest home. Fairfield Elementary is .6 miles away.
EMISSIONS: EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) shows 36,000 pounds
of “fugitive ammonia” and 943 pounds of creosote released in 2010.
Eugene’s Toxics Right-to-Know database lists only 8 pounds of air
toxics, but according to Beyond Toxics, Baxter says it is exempt from
reporting its release of creosote compounds to the Right-to-Know
database. J.H. Baxter is a Superfund site, has a history of groundwater
contamination off-site and was fined $6,000 in 2011 for violating its air
permit.
EFFECTS: Ammonia can cause extreme fatigue and respiratory
problems. Creosote (made of chemicals such as napththalene) is a
probable carcinogen and can cause neurological effects and anemia.
Baxter also lists pentachlororophenol on the TRI database. Penta is
also a carcinogen and can cause miscarriages and neurological effects.
2 TRAINSONG/
UNION PACIFIC RAILYARD
1035 Bethel Drive
NEARBY: The nearest homes are a few yards away.
EMISSIONS: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says of
the railyard “oil and groundwater contamination on the railyard consists
mainly of petroleum hydrocarbons, industrial solvents and metals. Out-
side the railyard, low levels of solvents are found in groundwater under-
lying portions of the adjacent Trainsong and River Road neighborhoods.”
The DEQ says the well water in the area is safe for “outdoor use.” DEQ
warns “Solvent vapors from contaminated groundwater can make their
way up and into buildings.” Union Pacific has been doing conducted
groundwater cleanup since 2005, and the DEQ says “currently vapor
intrusion in the Trainsong neighborhood is not a threat.”
EFFECTS: Beyond Toxics says diesel particulates from the train locomo-
tives can cause cancer, heart disease, asthma and pneumonia and warns
the pesticides regularly sprayed along the tracks are a public health hazard.
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PHO T O BY T ODD COOPE R
Joanne Gross just wishes she knew a little more about
what pollutants are in the soil. If the soil is contaminated,
what about the food she feeds her kids?
Turn 180 degrees away from Joanne’s front yard and look
across Roosevelt Boulevard and you see a steady plume
arising from the nearby Flakeboard America plant. According
to its most recent report filed with the Lane Regional Air
Protection Agency (LRAPA), the flakeboard plant has the
potential to emit 17.7 tons a year of formaldehyde, 107 tons
of methanol and 2.17 tons of phenol into the airshed. The
nearest home is 500 feet from the plant. Methanol depresses
the nervous system and can cause blindness or death.
Formaldehyde is considered by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to be a probable human carcinogen.
The flakeboard plant “has done a lot to improve their
facility,” Joanne Gross says. And indeed its LRAPA
MURPHY PLYWOOD
3 2350
Prairie Road
NEARBY: West Eugene neighborhoods
EMISSIONS: Murphy Plywood emits 14,000 pounds of methanol a
year, an estimated 29 tons of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) and 34
tons of PM 10. It emits 74,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year,
according to the data collected by Beyond Toxics. The TRI database
shows Murphy Plywood emits ammonia and formaldehyde as well.
EFFECTS: Methanol can cause severe body pain, loss of vision and
sleep disorders. Formaldehyde is a carcinogen, allergen and asthma
trigger. Ammonia can cause extreme fatigue and respiratory problems.
Fine particulates can penetrate deeply into the lungs. Short term PM
2.5 can cause coughing and irritation, long-term it’s linked to lung
cancer and heart disease.
CHEMICAL
4 GEORGIA-PACIFIC
(Koch Industries)
2665 Highway 99 N.
NEARBY: Golden Gardens Park, neighborhoods.
EMISSIONS: Under its Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA)
permit, Georgia-Pacific emits 36,000 pounds of air toxics.
EFFECTS: Beyond Toxics says the top three chemicals are
epichlorohydrin, a carcinogen that can cause sterility and liver, lung
and kidney problems; phenol, which is a neurotoxin and can cause
kidney and liver damage; and methanol.
SAWMILL CO.,
5 SENECA
SENECA SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
90201 Highway 99 N.
NEARBY: The closest home is 1,500 feet away. Irving Elementary is
1.5 miles away, Spring Creek Elementary is 1.9 miles away and
Willamette High School is 2.4 miles south.
EMISSIONS: The sawmill and the biomass plant are connected but
have different LRAPA permits. The sawmill emits 73,000 pounds of air
toxics and the biomass plant 17,900 pounds, according to Beyond
Toxics.
operating report shows it has reduced its hazardous air
pollutants by 63.9 tons a year. Kelly Shotbolt, president and
CEO of Flakeboard, says, “We still use formaldehyde as an
adhesive for most of our products, but we use less today
than before” due to the proprietary technology that was
installed a few years ago.
But Gross still wonders what might be in a garden that
sits so close to this and other industries with a history of
emitting chemicals like creosote, formaldehyde, lead, dioxin
and other toxics.
And as she looks at her garden she says, “If the air
quality is bad with all the factories, then it stands to reason
that the soil might be affected.” But when Gross checked
into it, she found out it would cost $70 for one soil sample
to be tested for only one chemical, so testing for multiple
chemicals in multiple samples is prohibitively expensive.
EFFECTS: The plant emits significant amounts of carbon and nitrogen
oxide. Beyond Toxics reports the top three chemicals at the plant are
acrolein, which is associated with respiratory congestion, and eye nose
and throat irritation; styrene, associated with increased risk of
leukemia and lymphoma, and with liver, kidney and eye and nasal
irritation; and formaldehyde.
INDUSTRIES
6 STATES
(Hardwood panel products)
29545 East Enid Road
EMISSIONS: 42,800 of air toxics according to LRAPA data.
EFFECTS: Acetone can cause kidney damage, breathing problems and
low blood pressure; cumene is a carcinogen that can cause skin rash
and reproductive problems; and methanol.
CASCADE
7 MCFARLAND
90049 Hwy 99 N.
EMISSIONS: EPA’s TRI reports 209 pounds of pentacholorphenol.
LRAPA reports 40,734 pounds of air toxics.
EFFECTS: Hexachlorobenzene can cause neurological, teratogenic,
liver and immune system effects; dioxin can impair the immune system,
the developing nervous system, the endocrine system and reproductive
functions; and pentachlorophenol.
AMERICA, INC.
8 FLAKEBOARD
50 N. Danebo Ave.
NEARBY: Sunshine Preschool is .7 miles away; Danebo Elementary,
1.1 miles; and Kalapuya High School .9 miles. The nearest home is
500 feet.
EMISSIONS: EPA’s TRI database shows 112,530 pounds of air toxics,
including methanol and the LRAPA permit shows 220,800 pounds of air
toxics.
EFFECTS: The chemicals have included methanol, formaldehyde and
ammonia. Flakeboard America has reduced its formaldehyde emissions,
and the company says it doesn’t necessarily emit to the maximum
levels in its permit.
EUGENE WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 13