EPA Proposes $750 Million Clean-Up Plan for Portland Harbor

After years of study and discussion, the Environmental Protection Agency has released a $746 million plan to clean-up Portland Harbor, one of the largest contaminated sites in the country.

Unlike many of the so-called Superfund sites, Portland Harbor has been polluted by more than 150 different companies over a span of more than 100 years.

Those companies would split the cost of the cleanup, which is expected to take place over 30 years - seven years of work and 23 years of monitoring.

Scientists have identified some 40 contaminants including PCBs and heavy metals that have ended up in the river.

The contamination is so bad that people have been advised not to eat fish such as carp, bass, and catfish from the site.

Fish such as salmon that just pass through are safe.

The Port of Portland, one of the entities involved, said they welcome the plan from the EPA.

"We appreciate the work by the EPA in preparing the plan and reaching this point in the process," Port of Portland Spokesman Steve Johnson said.

"We are committed to a cleanup of the Lower Willamette River that protects the health of Portlanders and our environment, and to finding the most cost-effective way to achieve it."

The plan focuses on ten miles along the river from the Columbia Slough to the Broadway Bridge where work will be done to dredge and remove contaminated sediments.

Some 1,900 acres - roughly 85 percent of the site - however, will be left untouched to hopefully allow nature to clean up the problem on its own.

Officials will monitor conditions along that stretch.

The EPA has scheduled four meetings for the public to comment.

They are:

June 24: Portland Building, 1120 S.W. 5th Ave.
June 29: Expo Center, 2060 N. Marine Drive.
July 11: University Place Conference Center, 310 S.W. Lincoln St.
July 20: Ambridge Center, 1333 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

All the meetings are from 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Senator Ron Wyden, who has worked on coming up with a clean-up solution to the site "strongly" suggests that people should attend one of the meetings.

"“I am gratified the EPA has released its cleanup plan for the Portland Harbor and strongly encourage the public to weigh in during the comment period so the shared goal of cleaning up this Superfund site is achieved as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

"I have long worked with Oregon’s congressional delegation toward realizing this goal so that all of us as Portlanders can safely enjoy every recreational option offered by this urban waterfront.”