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DEQ is accepting comments through 8 am on June 1 on the proposed cleanup of the trichloroethylene-contaminated Evanite Fiber site along the Willamette River in Corvallis. Visit goo.gl/nbbpQp for more information. Continue reading
The DEQ has again fined Christopher Bartels for violating environmental law at the slaughterhouse he operates on Central Road, this time for violations of monitoring and reporting requirements. DEQ fined Bartels $30,147 on May 7 for failing to perform required monitoring of slaughterhouse wastewater in 2013, and for trying to pass off 2012 monitoring results as having been collected in 2013. Bartels has 20 days to request a hearing on the fine, and based on past history between DEQ and Bartels, he will request a hearing and DEQ will reduce the fine. Continue reading
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a civil penalty in the amount of $7,634 to the Coos County Solid Waste Department on April 30 for repeated discharges of turbid water to Storey Creek and Joe Ney Slough from the construction and demolition landfill it operates near Charleston. DEQ issued an enforcement action of some kind back in January to Arclin U.S.A. concerning its Springfield facility that Oregon Clean Water Action Project requested a copy of from DEQ on April 17. Continue reading
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments on Murphy Company’s application for Clean Water Act construction discharge permit coverage until 5 pm on Thursday, April 30. The project is at Murphy Company’s plywood facility located at 2350 Prairie Road, and involves the disturbance of 5 acres or more of land. Visit goo.gl/Yp4iAK for information on how to submit comments. DEQ sent Natron Wood Products a warning letter on Feb. Continue reading
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments on two applications for Clean Water Act construction discharge permits until 5 pm Thursday, April 9. Both projects involve the disturbance of 5 acres or more of land. The first project is at Swanson Group’s Springfield Plywood/Veneer Facility, located at 1651 South F St., and the other project is at Roosevelt Middle School (located at 680 E. 24th Ave. in Eugene). Visit goo.gl/Yp4iAK for information on how to submit comments. Continue reading
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments on the proposed cleanup plan for the McAyeal’s Wardrobe Cleaners site through 5 pm on Tuesday, March 31. The site is located between the downtown Eugene Public Library and Kiva. The cleaners operated at that location starting in 1972, leaving behind soil and groundwater contaminated with dry-cleaning solvents. Contaminated groundwater that would otherwise occupy the library basement is currently diverted to a treatment system before being discharged to the city’s storm sewer system. Continue reading
Pacific Recycling has been fined yet again for environmental violations, this time involving asbestos. (For a listing of past appearances in this space go to goo.gl/fNr376.) The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) assessed a civil penalty of $32,000 against Eugene-based Pacific Recycling on February 3 for asbestos violations associated with an abatement project at a facility in Independence, Oregon, owned by CPM Development Corporation. DEQ assessed a separate penalty of $10,400 against CPM. Continue reading
The city of Eugene recently sent Pacific Recycling (which appears in this space on a regular basis) a warning letter for Clean Water Act violations at its facility on Cross Street. The city’s letter warns Pacific Recycling for shoddy employee environmental training practices; failure to take stormwater samples that are representative of discharges; failure to employ erosion and sediment controls; and failure to provide secondary containment for a barrel of unknown material. Continue reading
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sent a warning letter to Goshen Forest Products last month for Clean Water Act violations of Oregon’s industrial stormwater discharge permit. The permit requires Goshen Forest Products to sample stormwater discharges four times a year (with samples spaced out in time to better reflect actual conditions over the course of the rainy season) and to submit sample results to DEQ once a year. Goshen Forest Products failed to perform sampling at least 14 days apart during 2013-14. Continue reading
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently followed up on the pre-enforcement notices it sent to Jeanne M. Burris and Michael & Rosemary Cress in November for illegal waste-tire storage at property owned by Burris at 29882 Kelso St. in Eugene (see EW 12/11, goo.gl/uGo453). DEQ sent Burris a civil penalty assessment in the amount of $15,041 on Dec. 31, and sent Michael Cress a civil penalty assessment in the amount of $19,755 the same day. Burris is the current owner of the property, while Michael Cress is a prior owner. Continue reading