New Maple trees
being planted
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 5
8 Pages
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Port appeals DEQ groundwater
contamination fine
Says nitrate violations were unintentional and had minor effect on
health or environment
The Port of Morrow industrial park at Boardman.
sufficient land application
acreage available to com-
ply with the nitrate loading
limits... of the permit. An
unexpected combination of
less available acreage and
unusually high winter pre-
cipitation, however, forced
the port to apply wastewater
to sites that exceeded the
nitrate levels specified,”
even though it tried to avoid
the overapplication, it ex-
plained. The port added that
“it has made and contin-
ues to make extraordinary
efforts to avoid applying
wastewater in the winter to
sites that exceed 30 pounds
of nitrate per acre.”
The smaller fine of
$63,951 was for “failing
to monitor nitrogen uptake
in crops at each of its land
applications sites.” The
port said although this was
true, it should not be fined
since it was not a violation
of its permit. Although
the permit requires it to
monitor and record plant
tissue nitrogen removal (a
method to gauge nitrogen
levels in the soil) “there
are no standard methods
for monitoring plant tissue
nitrogen removal,” and
that the DEQ provided
“no useful guidance on the
appropriate method” even
though the Port asked for
that guidance. The Port said
the DEQ did not provide an
approved method of testing
until 2021. “The Port was
uncertain regarding both
what information should
be collected and how it
should be collected. There
are no standard methods,
no method is specified in
the permit and DEQ had
not provided any useful
guidance to the Port on an
appropriate method,” the
appeal document states.
To handle its DEQ ap-
peal the Port has hired At-
torney Michael Campbell
of Portland law firm Stoel
Rives, LLP. According to
its website,
Stoel Rives
has 10 offic-
es located in
seven states
and Wash-
ington D.C.
W i t h i t s Attorney
headquarters Michael
in Portland, Campbell
it is the larg-
est law firm in Oregon
having 391 attorneys and
a total of 721 staff. “Stoel
Rives is considered a leader
in the Pacific Northwest in
corporate, energy, environ-
mental, intellectual proper-
ty, labor and employment,
land use and construction,
litigation, natural resources
and renewable energy law,”
the website stated. Attorney
Campbell has “more than
30 years of experience help-
ing hydropower, industrial
and municipal clients ob-
tain water quality approvals
and find solutions to regu-
latory problems related to
water quality,” the site said.
Now that the appeal
process is in place the next
step will be a meeting be-
tween the Port and DEQ
officials to discuss a settle-
ment. “We don’t have much
to share right now beyond
just that we’ve received an
appeal from the port. The
next step will be for DEQ
and the port to schedule an
informal meeting to discuss
the information the port has
provided as part of the ap-
peal letter, and see if we can
reach settlement terms,”
Public Affairs Specialist
with the DEQ Eastern Re-
gion Laura Gleim told the
Gazette-Times.
“This is very standard
procedure for our enforce-
ment process”, Gleim said.
“If we can’t reach settle-
ment, the DEQ will refer
the case to the state’s Office
of Administrative Hear-
ings and request a hearing
before an administrative
law judge. Most cases do
not reach this stage, but it
would be the next step if
we couldn’t reach a settle-
ment,” she explained about
the possible future course of
the appeal.
By April Hilton-Sykes
Dr. Josh Sirucek has
joined the Morrow County
Health District staff and is
now practicing in Heppner.
Dr. Sirucek, who attended
Monday’s MCHD meeting,
and his wife, Bonnie, have
four children and indicated
that they have plans to live
in Heppner.
A “meet and greet”
session with Dr. Sirucek
has been scheduled for
Tuesday, February 22, at
6:30 p.m. in the Pioneer
Memorial Clinic Confer-
ence Room.
Dr. Ed Berretta, who
lived and practiced in Hep-
pner years ago, along with
his wife, Dr. Jean Berretta,
remains as chief of staff for
the district. He presented
a positive commentary to
the board via letter, quoting
Charles Dickens, “These
are the Best of Times, These
are the Worst of Times,”
ending with “It will Truly
be The Best of Times.”
Emily Roberts, MCHD
C EO, an n o u n ced th at
“Donna Sherman has as-
sumed responsibility for
EMS (Emergency Medical
Services) on a permanent
basis and is now the direc-
tor of Laboratory and EMS
Services.” Roberts said
that Sherman “started with
the district’s EMS program
13 years ago and brings a
wealth of knowledge and
experience.”
Patti Allstott, human
resources director for the
district, announced that
the district has hired 16
new employees since the
November board meeting,
including: a part-time phy-
sician for Hospice director-
ship, a part-time Hospice
family nurse practitioner,
a Pioneer Memorial Clinic
certified medical assistant,
a community relations and
communications director, a
fill-in radiology technician,
a floating clinic medical
assistant for three clin-
ics (Heppner, Boardman
and Irrigon), a full-time
paramedic and ED techni-
cian, four temporary status
hospital RNS, a hospital
screener, a chief operating
officer, a full-time lab tech-
nician, a Home Health and
Hospice clerk, adding, “Dr.
Sirucek is Here!”
One of the freshly planted trees standing tall in Memorial Park.
Otherwise, transporting
and planting could harm the
tree, so it may be another
season before all of the trees
are planted.
When asked why the
old trees were being re-
placed, Kraig Cutsforth, the
city manager, said that the
old trees had reached ma-
turity and were beginning
to cause problems. Trees
were falling over, damaging
property and damaging the
cement in the sidewalk.
Many of the old trees were
Bradford Pear trees, a spe-
cies that is responsible for a
foul smell and for the fruit
that sits on the sidewalk.
Cutsforth says that
these new trees shouldn’t
smell bad and won’t be
bearing fruit. Along Main
Street, you can find Crim-
son Maples, a type of tree
that in time, will grow to
about 25 feet tall. They are
much skinnier trees that
will be much easier to trim
and maintain, Cutsforth
says. The trees in Memori-
al Park, the Pacific Sunset
Maples, are supposed to
grow to 50 feet tall and live
for 150 years. All of the new
Dr. Josh Sirucek
trees will be very colorful
in the fall and bring out the
The board approved a beauty of the season.
services agreement between
MCHD and Nurse Practi-
DEADLINE:
tioner Vicki Kent, ARNP,
MONDAYS
who will be working two
AT 5PM
10-hour days.
Allstott also reported
the district has scheduled
By Hannah Finch
If you’ve taken a walk
down Main Street recent-
ly, you may have noticed
something missing, or rath-
er, something new.
Heppner has been
working on an ongoing
project to replant many of
the trees that you’ll find
around town. Seven to eight
trees were planted last year,
and by the end of the proj-
ect, there will be 25 new
trees in place. The trees,
coming from a nursery
just south of Portland, can
only be planted in winter
while they are dormant.
New doctor joins MCHD staff
-See NEW DOCTOR/PAGE
TWO
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NEW
2022
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By David Sykes
The Port of Morrow is
appealing a recent $1.3 mil-
lion fine from the Oregon
Department of Environ-
mental Quality for violating
its permit by over-applying
nitrogen to farm ground.
The Port collects waste-
water from food processors,
storage facilities and data
centers in its industrial park
outside Boardman. It has a
permit that allows use of the
nitrogen-rich wastewater
beneficially for irrigation
on nearby farms, but the
permit includes limits on
how much nitrogen can
be applied to the farmland
and how much nitrate can
be present in soil prior to
applications.
According to the DEQ,
the port violated these lim-
its more than a thousand
times in a three-year period,
resulting in approximately
165 tons of excess nitrogen
being applied. The DEQ
also said the port failed to
monitor nitrogen at appli-
cation sites on 121 separate
occasions.
The allegations are se-
rious since the permits are
meant to stop overappli-
cation and ensure nitrates
don’t filter down through
the soil into groundwater
used for drinking. Nitrogen
is a beneficial plant nutrient
but too much in drinking
water can contribute to
health problems in humans.
The application area also
has a long history of high
groundwater nitrate levels.
In response to the
charges and large fine, the
Port did not dispute that
it over-applied nitrates,
only that its actions were
“unintentional and beyond
the reasonable control of
the Port.” It added that the
penalty was excessive since
the violations had no more
than a minor adverse effect
or threat on human health
and the environment.
The DEQ’s penalty on
the Port was broken down
into two fines. The larger
penalty of $1,227,600 was
for applying “wastewater
containing nitrogen during
the winter irrigation season
to fields where soil nitrate in
the four feet to five feet soil
level was equal to or greater
than 30 lbs.” thus exceeding
its permit levels. In its ap-
peal document the port said
overapplication was caused
by less available acreage
and high winter precipi-
tation which “forced” it
to over-apply the nitrates.
“When the permit was
issued, the port believed
that it had or would have
Hard at work replacing the old trees with the new saplings.
-Photos by Hannah Finch.
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