A18
REGION
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
DEQ increases Port of Morrow fi ne to $2.1 million
East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — Ore-
gon Department of Environ-
mental Quality has increased
the penalty against the Port
of Morrow from $1.3 mil-
lion to a little more than $2.1
million.
State environmental reg-
ulators levied the initial fi nes
in January, accusing the port
of excessively spreading
nitrogen-rich wastewater as
fertilizer on area farmland
for years. DEQ announced
in a statement Friday, June
17, the additional $800,000
is “for additional violations
involving over applica-
tion of wastewater contain-
ing nitrogen to agricultural
fi elds in the Lower Uma-
tilla Basin, an area with
longstanding groundwater
contamination.”
The Port of Morrow has
been appealing the $1.3 mil-
lion in fi nes.
“The Port of Morrow
recognizes
groundwater
contamination is a serious
problem, and has been for
decades,” port Executive
Director Lisa Mittelsdorf
said. “The port believes this
is a community problem that
will require a community
solution. By the DEQ’s own
East Oregonian, File
Industrial facilities operate Jan. 11, 2022, at the Port of Morrow near Boardman. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
announced Friday, June 17, it increased the penalty against the port for nitrate pollution from $1.3 million to a little more than
$2.1 million.
analysis, the port’s industrial
wastewater reuse program is
responsible for less than 5%
of the area’s nitrates. We will
continue to work with DEQ
to collaborate on a solution
that will address what hap-
pens to industrial wastewa-
ter during winter months
without shutting down the
industries generating that
wastewater.”
According to the state-
ment from DEQ, the Port
of Morrow is one of many
sources contributing to
nitrate contamination in
northern Morrow and Uma-
tilla counties — an area
known as the Lower Uma-
tilla Basin Groundwater
Management Area.
The primary source of
contamination in the area,
about 70%, is from fertil-
izer used on irrigated farm-
land, according to the man-
agement area’s action plan.
Additional contributors are
dairy and cattle farms (about
20%), food processing facil-
ities, such as the port that
reuse wastewater to irrigate
fi elds (about 5%) and resi-
dential septic systems and
other sources (about 5%).
The Port of Morrow col-
lects wastewater from food
processors, storage facilities
and data centers in its indus-
trial park outside Boardman.
The port has a DEQ water
quality permit that allows
it to use the nitrogen-rich
wastewater for irrigation on
nearby farms, but the permit
includes limits on how much
nitrogen the port can apply
to the farmland and how
much nitrate and moisture
can be present in soil prior to
applications.
“The amended notice
cites the port for additional
occurrences of applying
wastewater containing nitro-
gen to fi elds that already had
too much existing nitrate or
moisture in the soil,” accord-
ing to the statement. “Having
too much nitrate or moisture
in the soil when applying
wastewater increases the
likelihood of nitrates fl ow-
ing down into the ground-
water rather than remaining
in the soil for crops to use.”
Interior to launch mental health program for wildland fi refi ghters
By JACOB FISCHLER
and AUDREY DUTTON
Oregon Capital Chronicle
BOISE, Idaho — The
U.S. Interior Department
will create a health and
well-being program for
wildland fi refi ghters and
boost spending on fi refi ght-
ing eff orts by $103 million
in fi scal 2022, Secretary
Deb Haaland said Friday,
June 17.
The additional funding,
which Haaland announced
at the National Interagency
Fire Center, comes as part of
the $1.5 billion in last year’s
$1.2 trillion infrastructure
law signed into law by Pres-
ident Joe Biden that’s meant
to address wildfi res, which
also directed the creation of
mental health services for
wildland fi refi ghters.
Most of the funding,
$80.9 million, will be used
to broaden and hasten work
to manage fuels in fi re-
prone areas and will help
the department reach 2 mil-
lion more acres than it did
last year, a roughly 30%
increase, according to Inte-
rior. Another $19.4 million
will be used to rehabilitate
areas after they’ve burned.
The programs are critical
now, with climate change
making fi res frequent and
intense, Haaland said.
“One thing is perfectly
clear: That climate change
will continue to make fi res
in the West larger and that
we must continue to invest
in conservation of our eco-
systems,” she said. “We
must and we will continue
to stay coordinated because
the reality is that these days
… it’s ‘fi re years,’ no longer
‘fi re seasons.’
Fire impacts
“Hotter, drier conditions
cause more extreme fi re
behavior, and the increased
frequency of fi res in urban
areas impacts more homes,
businesses and communi-
ties each and every year.”
The mental health and
wellness program was
also a product of the infra-
structure law, which com-
pelled Interior and the
U.S. Department of Agri-
culture to create programs
to address mental health
needs, including treatment
of post-traumatic stress
disorder.
The health program
will hire people to respond
to critical incidents that
require stress management.
It will also add health care
capacity in four Interior
bureaus — Indian Aff airs,
Land Management, the
Fish and Wildlife Service
and the National Park Ser-
vice — to establish a new
system of trauma-support
services focused on early
intervention.
Offi cials said the pro-
gram will augment and
better coordinate existing
approaches to helping fi re-
fi ghters stay resilient and
recover from on-the-job
trauma. They expect sev-
eral millions of dollars of
funding from the bipartisan
infrastructure bill, but were
unable to provide an exact
funding amount during a
press briefi ng Friday.
“We have more support
to expand on capacity we
already have in the agen-
cies, and that’s what we’re
super grateful for,” said
Grant Beebe, the fi re direc-
tor for the Bureau of Land
Management at NIFC. “So
(we’re) not standing up
a brand new program but
actually bolstering one that
we’ve had some experience
with, and great success
with, with our fi refi ghters.”
In a statement ahead of
the announcement, Haa-
land said the aim “to pro-
vide trauma-informed men-
tal health care is critical.”
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