DEQ Says Stronger Rules Coming for Glass Manufacturers

After receiving the go-ahead from the EPA, Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality had determined two Portland glass manufacturers can be regulated under federal air quality rules meant to control hazardous pollutants, which includes the heavy metals that the company have used during manufacturing.

"This means the companies are now legally required to install pollution control equipment and follow other requirements for testing, monitoring, and record keeping," DEQ said in a statement.

DEQ had written to the EPA last month after questions were raised about whether the state should be holding the companies - Bullseye in Southeast Portland and Uroboros in North Portland - to tougher standards.

On Tuesday, the EPA wrote back, basically saying, "yes."

The use of heavy metals such as arsenic and chromium hexavalent became an issue when it turned out that traces of the metals were being found in moss growing in the neighborhood around the plants.

That led to the disclosure that the plants were not doing all that they could to limit emissions.

On Wednesday, DEQ also said that in anticipation of getting the authority to enforce stricter rules, they had checked emissions at other plans and determined Bullseye and Uroboros are the only two glass factories in Oregon subject to the new rules.