History of a Superfund cleanup bid

By Lee van der Voo

The Portland Tribune, Jul 3, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

L.e. baskow / Portland Tribune

A sign at Kelley Point Park warns of pollution dangers near the Willamette River’s confluence with the Columbia River.

The Portland Harbor was listed as a Superfund site in December 2000. The federal program cleans hazardous waste from areas where it could pose a threat to people and ecosystems.

Regulated releases and spills from industry, runoff from city streets, sewage overflows and contaminated groundwater along the shores of the Willamette River all have caused pollution in the water and the riverbed that has accumulated during the last 100 years.

According to a report by the Portland Harbor Natural Resource Trustee Council, a group set up by Superfund law, the pollutants include metals, agrochemicals and petroleum.

They also include dioxins; rocket fuel; polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs; pesticides and related products, including DDT and herbicides; plus volatile organic compounds like benzene.

Many of the products are carcinogens, or can otherwise endanger human health.

The pollution stems from the area’s history of lumber and steel mills, tank farms, rail yards and docks, petroleum storage, raw materials handling, marine repair and fueling, and manufacture and storage of chemicals, paint, asphalt and tar. In the 1940s, warships were built in the Portland Harbor. Recreational boating also takes its toll.

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