5A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016
Portland parents decry oficials over lead in school water
Elevated lead
levels cause
for concern
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — In a city
well known for its green activ-
ism, an environmental threat
has bubbled up in an unex-
pected place: the drinking
water at some public schools.
The Willamette Week
newspaper reported late Tues-
day that over half of the 90
school sites tested between
2010 and 2012 had elevated
levels of lead in the drinking
water at some locations.
The report, based on a pub-
lic records request, landed
during an emergency meet-
ing already underway to dis-
cuss why the Portland Public
Schools failed to disclose ele-
vated lead levels at two schools
for nearly two months — and
left the taps running for days
while it completed repairs.
That news, irst reported by
The Oregonian last week, had
already galvanized parents and
led to an online petition for the
resignation of Superintendent
Carole Smith.
Rachel Brunette’s 7-year-
old daughter attends Duniway
Elementary, a school listed has
having elevated lead at a caf-
eteria dishwashing station and
at drinking fountains in the
Willamette Week report.
She is getting her kids
tested for lead poisoning this
week.
“She’s been complaining
of occasional stomach aches
and headaches and it’s no big
deal — but then you look on
WebMD and it says these are
possibly symptoms of expo-
sure to lead,” Brunette said of
her eldest. “Suddenly it doesn’t
seem too benign anymore.”
In March, the district
arranged to test for lead at
Creston K-8 School and Rose
City Park School at the request
of parents who were con-
cerned about the unfolding
public health crisis in Flint,
Michigan.
Those tests revealed ele-
vated levels of lead in 14 of 92
water sources at the schools,
including a handful of drink-
ing fountains, but parents were
not told for weeks.
“This is not our proto-
col, this is not acceptable,
and we’re taking a number
of immediate actions,” Smith
told parents Tuesday.
The district placed plas-
tic bags over all water foun-
tains districtwide Friday and
will spend the summer testing
lead levels at all schools. The
last time such extensive testing
was done was 2001.
The district has purchased
nearly 1 million bottles of
water for students through the
end of the school year.
Two district employees
could be placed on adminis-
trative leave as a result of the
investigation, Smith said.
District
spokeswoman
Continued from Page 1A
Associated Press
Jeanne Stafford/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The greater sage grouse.
broods. They also eat pretty
much only sagebrush through
the winter. Loss of sagebrush
habitat has contributed to sage
grouse population decline in
Oregon.
The appeals court deci-
sion said the BLM completed
no surveys on whether sage
grouse were at the site during
the winter.
“The inaccurate informa-
tion and unsupported assump-
tions materially impeded
informed
decision-making
and public participation,” the
decision said.
Brent Fenty is executive
director of the Oregon Nat-
ural Desert Association, a
Bend-based
environmen-
tal group that brought the
lawsuit. He called the wind
project the “right idea in the
wrong place” and noted the
association’s 2009 report that
analyzes wildlife habitats and
landscapes in Oregon’s High
Desert to identify areas where
wind projects would have the
least impact.
Fenty said “hundreds of
thousands of acres” should
have been considered before
the Steens Mountain location.
Grasty questioned the abil-
ity of courts to interpret land
management-related
deci-
sions, saying land manag-
ers should be given deference
because they have the exper-
tise that courts lack.
“It’s incredibly frustrat-
ing,” he said.
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The report will not make
indings or conclusions
regarding Smith’s men-
tal state during the alleged
crimes.
Smith, 42, of Vancouver,
Washington, is accused of
murdering her toddler and
attempting to kill her teen-
ager at a Cannon Beach
resort in 2014.
The trial is scheduled for
June 2017.
In previous court hear-
ings, Judge Matyas said
she has not observed any
unusual behavior from
Smith, but still appointed
psychologist Brooke How-
ard to do an independent
evaluation.
Howard found Smith suf-
fers from post-traumatic
stress disorder, but could
not conclude whether she is
unable or unwilling to aid
and assist in her defense.
In her report, Howard
recommended Smith be
sent to the state hospital for
observation.
Clatsop County Dis-
trict Attorney Josh Mar-
quis is challenging a por-
tion of Howard’s report
that cites a mental examina-
tion conducted by Michele
Crump-Hart, clinical direc-
tor at Clatsop Behavioral
Healthcare.
Smith had a consulta-
tion in February with Clat-
sop Behavioral Health-
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Jessica Smith, shown here before a court appearance in
January, has returned from the state hospital.
care, the county’s mental
health provider, to deter-
mine if the county has the
expertise available to treat
Smith if she is found unfit
to proceed.
Clatsop
Behavioral
Healthcare concluded it
does not have the resources
available.
“There are no known
community restoration pro-
grams in either Tillamook
or Clatsop County to assist
this client with the abil-
ity to aid and assist in her
own defense,” the agency
concluded.
However, Crump-Hart
noted a number of mental
LISTINGS
THE DAILY
ASTORIAN
oficials nationwide for failing
to immediately tell the public
— as was the case at the two
Portland schools — when high
lead levels are discovered.
Americans will hear more
about lead in public school
water in the months to come
as nervous districts test for it,
said James Montgomery, an
associate professor in environ-
mental studies at DePaul Uni-
versity and an expert on lead in
the environment.
Many schools have aging
infrastructure, making them
especially vulnerable, he said.
“Once Flint hit, my predic-
tion was, ‘This is going to rip-
ple like a seismic wave out,’
and it has,” he said.
AP Reporter Kristena Han-
sen contributed to this report.
Smith: Judge will use hospital report
to help determine Smith’s mental state
Sage grouse concerns nix
Oregon energy project
BEND — A federal
appeals court has nixed a
large wind energy project in
southeast Oregon.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals ruled last week
that an environmental review
by the federal Bureau of Land
Management failed to ade-
quately assess the winter pop-
ulation of greater sage grouse
at the proposed facility near
Steens Mountain in Harney
County.
Columbia Energy Part-
ners proposed the project for
roughly 10,500 acres of pri-
vate land. The project called
for 40 to 69 wind turbines and
a 230-kilovolt transmission
line to bring the energy to the
electrical grid.
The BLM had approved
the project, and Harney
County granted a key permit.
“One more lost oppor-
tunity for our community,”
Judge Steve Grasty, a top ofi-
cial in the county, told The
Bulletin newspaper.
Environmental
groups
challenged the BLM’s envi-
ronmental review of the proj-
ect. It needed the environ-
mental review partly because
the transmission line’s right
of way would cross public
lands.
Greater sage grouse need
sagebrush year-round for mat-
ing, nesting and rearing their
Christine Miles did not respond
Wednesday to requests for fur-
ther details.
In April, Gov. Kate Brown
called for a statewide review
of what tools schools and dis-
tricts have to test water.
She directed the Oregon
Health Authority, which car-
ries out Environmental Pro-
tection Agency water regula-
tions at the state level, and the
state Department of Education
to also make recommendations
for improvement.
Earlier this year, a Flint-in-
spired nationwide review
by the USA Today Network
found that more than 2,000
water systems fell short of EPA
rules for lead,
It also found that the EPA
has handed out 180 citations to
health issues with Smith and
determined she suffers from
a mental illness, according
to Smith’s defense lawyers
Lynne Morgan and David
Falls.
The defense lawyers say
Hart’s observations are rele-
vant and should be included
as evidence. Marquis wants
Hart’s input thrown out.
Judge Matyas will decide at
the upcoming court hearing
this month.
Ultimately, Smith’s men-
tal itness to proceed is up
to Judge Matyas. The judge
will use the state hospi-
tal report to help determine
Smith’s mental state.
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