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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Earlier this year, the discovery of dangerously high
concentrations of toxic heavy metals in Portland neighborhoods launched the
city and our state into an urgent and serious conversation about air quality. People are worried and they are demanding
action.
Many residents in North and Northeast Portland have been
deeply engaged in air quality issues for years. One of my ongoing priorities since being elected to the House has been
to work on these concerns. Progress has
been slow, however. Now, momentum has
shifted.
Because there has been a lot going on, I wanted to take this
opportunity to provide a detailed air quality update about some of the issues
specific to our community as well as to highlight some of the work being done
to protect public health and promote clean air more broadly.
Please mark your
calendars and join me for a North Portland air quality community meeting on
Monday, June 20 at 7 p.m. in the Buckley Center Auditorium at the University of
Portland. Read below for more information.
In 2014, at my request, the
legislature funded the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to
conduct air quality monitoring in North Portland. The monitoring resources included: meteorology stations to provide information
regarding temperature, wind direction and speed; a full spectrum air toxics
monitor capable of detecting a wide range of toxic pollutants; and a
particulate monitor to detect levels of metals at concentrations above health
benchmarks. Data was collected from late
2014 through early 2016, with the goal of providing a year’s worth of air
samples and weather information to provide a comprehensive look at air quality
in the Swan Island area of North Portland.
On Monday, June 20, I will be hosting
a community meeting to discuss the results.
You can read a summary of the project results here.
While more analysis is needed, particularly on potential sources of some
specific pollutants, the key takeaways are these:
- There are pollutants in our air regularly above
accepted health benchmarks.
- Cars and trucks are the main source of these
pollutants.
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The data is in line with the Portland
Air Toxics Solutions study completed in 2011.
Bottom line: We
need to do more to clean up our air. I hope you can join the discussion on June 20th.
The biggest
air quality problem we face in the metro area is emissions from diesel
engines. The particulates emitted by older diesel engines can create
serious health risks.
According to
a new report
released by the Oregon Environmental Council, diesel
exhaust each year in Oregon causes up to 460 premature deaths, results in up to
$274 million in climate damage within the state, and costs Oregonians as much
as $3.5 billion in health harm and lost productivity.
In 2015, the
legislature created a task force to consider a variety of regulations and financial incentives that could
begin moving Oregon away from older diesel engines and toward a cleaner,
healthier future. That task force is
now underway as a committee work group chaired by Senator Michael Dembrow (NE
Portland).
The
work group includes representatives from environmental and public health
groups, industry, labor, local governments, and state agencies. They have begun meeting regularly and will be
working to create a legislative proposal for the 2017 session.
The Daimler Trucks North America Western
Star custom truck facility on Swan Island has been the alleged source of more
nuisance odor complaints since 2010 than any other facility in Oregon, according to a recent story by OPB.
In 2015, the DEQ launched an official
nuisance odor investigation into concerns about the paint fumes and possible
exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In March of this year, the DEQ released a
staff recommendation concluding that Daimler is not the source of odors that are
adversely impacting residents who live near the plant. On April 5th, I convened a community meeting
and asked the DEQ to explain its findings.
During that meeting, we also heard
from a researcher at the University of Portland who conducted a separate air
quality analysis and concluded that paint odors were in fact coming from
Daimler’s facility on Swan Island. After
hearing from him and many concerned community members, I strongly urged the DEQ
to reconsider its determination, which you can read more about here: “Oregon House Speaker Criticizes DEQ Investigation of Swan Island Odors.”
I am pleased to report that the DEQ
is re-evaluating its research and also considering the data and methodology
from the University of Portland analysis. Most recently, the DEQ has asked Daimler to
provide an estimate of how much it would cost to add technology to reduce odors
outside its plant. My office will
continue to monitor the status of this investigation.
Remember, you can report an odor any time by filling out the DEQ’s form
here: Report a Complaint. Or, you can call the DEQ
odor hotline at 1-888-997-7888. Nuisance
odor investigations are a complaint-driven process, so please report!
Last year, in response to an increasing number of complaints
from Hayden Island residents, the DEQ in partnership with the federal
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began investigating odors that are
affecting community livability and some residents’ health.
Initial monitoring identified several possible sources of the
odors, including
two oil recycling companies, Oil Re-Refining Company (ORRCO) and American
Petroleum Environmental Services (APES), the city sewer system, rail-to-truck
fuel and chemical offloading and storage facilities, and transportation sources
including car, truck, and boat engines.
The DEQ has met with residents and hosted a community meeting on the
island. Additional monitoring is now
underway, and the DEQ has requested information and analysis from APES and
ORRCO. For a complete timeline of events
and actions, go to the DEQ’s Jantzen
Beach Odors page. My office will continue to monitor the status
of this investigation.
Earlier this year, the DEQ
found levels
of heavy metals – including cadmium, arsenic, and chromium – significantly
above risk thresholds. The metals were
linked to emissions from two local glass factories, Bullseye Glass in Southeast
Portland and Uroboros Glass in North Portland, and from Precision Castparts in Southeast
Portland.
State and local agencies have been working together to
answer questions and keep people informed.
For more information about toxic metals emissions and updates
about what the DEQ, the Oregon Health
Authority (OHA), and Multnomah County are doing to protect the public's
health, you can go to SaferAir.Oregon.gov.
In April, Governor Kate Brown announced the
launch of Cleaner Air Oregon, an initiative to broadly reform industrial air
toxics regulations and align them with public health risks. The DEQ and OHA
have started the process of writing these new rules.
As you can see in the graphic below, the
rule-making process is complicated and expected to take nearly two years. During that time, the DEQ and OHA will
consider input from a technical work group (an appointed group made up of
science, health and air toxics regulation experts), public policy forums, and community
members.
 You
can visit CleanerAir.Oregon.gov to learn more about this process, share your comments
or questions, and sign up for email updates.
We
have a great deal of work to do on all of these fronts in order to make sure we
have safe, clean air. Please contact my
office if you have questions, concerns, or ideas to share. We will continue to follow these issues very
closely.
Best,
Tina Kotek
State Representative
House District 44
Speaker of the House
email: Rep. Rep.TinaKotek@state.or.us I phone: 503-986-1200
address: 900 Court St NE, H-269, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/kotek
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