The Oregonian

Port tenant will clean up ash

Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals says it will modify equipment and take care of spills in the Willamette River to settle a suit

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

JULIE SULLIVAN and ALEX PULASKI

A principal tenant at the Port of Portland has agreed to spend up to $75,000 to stop soda ash from washing into the Willamette River under a preliminary settlement reached with environmentalists Monday.

Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals Inc., a Houston-based company that transfers soda ash from railcars at the Port's Terminal 4 onto ships in the Willamette River, agreed to modify equipment, clean up spills and pay attorney fees to the Oregon Center for Environmental Health in U.S. District Court. The agreement before U.S. Magistrate Janice M. Stewart is subject to Environmental Protection Agency approval.

The Portland citizens group sued Kinder Morgan last April after a veteran longshoreman complained he was working in a "fog" of soda ash that covered the grounds and riverbank, and later washed into the Willamette River.

The suit alleged that the company violated the federal Clean Water Act with such emissions and by failing to monitor stormwater discharge. Soda ash, an alkaline substance used in manufacturing glass, paper products and detergents, can harm fish.

In February 2004, a Kinder Morgan spokesman said the longshoreman's allegations were "without merit" and that "any agencies that choose to research these allegations will agree."

On Monday, Kinder Morgan did not admit any liability, but agreed to reduce dust by re-engineering the spout that drops the soda ash into ships, post permits, fix leaking railcars and clean up spills.

"This agreement reflects our commitment to working with the community where we operate, even if that means going beyond what is required by our permit," spokesman Rick Rainey said.

The bulk cargo handler is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, which handles bulk cargo, petroleum products and national gas pipelines in the United States. In Portland, it handles potash at the Port's Terminal 5 and stores gasoline and diesel in Linnton.

Longshoreman Jerry Cressa, 57, said he was pleased by the preliminary settlement but also frustrated that it ever went to court, saying he had gone to the company, his union, the Port of Portland and the state Department of Environmental Quality before contacting a citizens group that monitors Superfund sites on the Willamette.

"They said there was no evidence there, and it was hard for me to accept no evidence when I saw it with my own eyes," Cressa said.

Jane Harris, executive director of the Oregon Center for Environmental Health, said the agreement would result in healthier water for fish and better air quality for dockworkers and residents of the nearby St. Johns neighborhood.

"And it lets the Port of Portland and terminal operators know that the public is watching," Harris said. "That area is a Superfund site because of what damage has been done by the Port and their lessees."

A spokeswoman for the Port of Portland defended the company's use of "best practices" and its compliance with state and federal pollution controls. Kinder Morgan leases 7.2 acres of storage, bulk-loading and rail facilities at Terminal 4 for $1.1 million a year.

Soda ash is produced from trona, a mineral mined in Green River, Wyo., and transported to Portland by rail. About 75 percent of the U.S. exports of soda ash via the water come through Terminal 4, where Kinder Morgan ships 2.6 million metric tons of soda ash annually to Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

Under Kinder Morgan's environmental permits, the company must try to prevent emissions and vacuum spilled soda ash during ship-loading operations. But on Oct. 18, 2003, Cressa complained to his supervisor and then a representative of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union that the grounds at Terminal 4, including the riprap on the riverbank, were coated in a heavy dusting of soda ash.

Cressa, a 27-year dockworker who operates the equipment that loads the ship, said he borrowed a cell phone to call the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He said the department told him it had no one to send out but would telephone the employer. A Kinder Morgan worker then ordered Cressa to start the operation or be fired, Cressa said.

He started, he said, adding to the dust. Later in his shift, rain began to wash the dust into the river. Cressa said he had photographed the site earlier with a camera his wife had left in a truck. Those photographs became part of the lawsuit.

Responding to notice of the suit in February, Kinder Morgan called Cressa a "disgruntled employee" who had a vendetta against the company since his truck was damaged during an accident with a locomotive on the property two months earlier.

Cressa denied being anything but frustrated by obvious spills.

He contacted the Oregon Center for Environmental Health, best known for representing Mattel Inc. workers exposed to industrial solvents in their drinking water at a former View-Master plant in Beaverton and a campaign to remove mercury from hospitals.

Julie Sullivan: 503-221-8068; juliesullivan@news.oregonian.com