ACTION ALERT
Oregon Center for Environmental Health
819 SE Morrison, Suite 235
Portland, Oregon 97214
503-233-1510
www.oregon-health.org
Public Comment Period
Port of Portland Early Action Clean Up at Terminal Four
Click here to read the proposed clean-up plan.
The Port of Portland wants to dredge contaminated sediments at Terminal Four and place them in a prepared, in-water disposal site at the adjacent Slip 1. The Port is also proposing that they accept an additional 600,000 cubic yards of sediment from the larger harbor clean up. The Port estimates that accepting additional contaminated sediments for in-water disposal will generate $10 million in profit.
The Center opposes this proposal because it creates a hazardous waste disposal site in the river we are trying to clean up. Under this plan the Port will become a hazardous waste manager for contaminants that will still be there 100 years from now. Unless, of course, we have a flood event or an earthquake that destroys the earthen containment facility releasing hundreds of tons of contaminants back into the harbor. This proposed facility is in the hundred year flood plain. The Port’s in-water disposal plan is the least costly to the Port, but it is the most risky and least effective for the community.
Please send written comments opposing this plan to put our community at risk. We support dredging these contaminated sediments and shipping them in specially prepared rail cars to an appropriate land fill in eastern Oregon.
Send written comments to:
Sean Sheldrake
Superfund Project Manager USEPA Region 10
1200 Sixth Avenue Mailstop ECL -113
Seattle, WA 98101
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