Governor, EPA administrator meet with local leaders on nitrate issue
By Berit Thorson East Oregonian
BOARDMAN — Gov. Tina Kotek and Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 Administrator Casey Sixkiller met Wednesday, April 24, with local leaders and organizers to hear what challenges they face in addressing the water nitrate pollution in Morrow and Umatilla counties.
"We've been trying to be partners with you from the state to work on the issues here in the community, and there's been a lot going on," Kotek told the community-based organizations in her opening remarks. "Not saying we have solved every problem, but our state agencies have been directed to work more closely with everyone. I think we've seen some success there."
The meeting at the Boardman campus of Blue Mountain Community College came less than a week after state agency directors from the Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Agriculture and the Water Resources Department held a question-and-answer public meeting.
Kotek returns to Oregon’s Umatilla Basin as locals grapple with nitrate response
By Antonio Sierra (OPB) and Monica Samayoa (OPB)
A year ago, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek promised a “new day” for the Lower Umatilla Basin’s decades-long nitrates crisis. When she returned to Boardman this week, Kotek told community leaders that there are many more days of work ahead before the crisis can be solved.
Since Kotek’s last visit, the state has conducted hundreds of well tests and provided filters or bottled water deliveries to many homes with high nitrate levels. Kotek’s 2023 visit was a milestone for residents of Morrow and Umatilla counties, where nitrate pollution had been a known issue for more than three decades by the time she arrived.
Wells are the primary source of drinking water in the region, and testing has shown nitrate contamination levels increasing, with some wells exceeding the federal standard for safe drinking water limit by five times.
Community members and state agencies have been working to begin to address the decades-long challenge. But local residents have grown impatient as levels continue to increase and little has been done to begin to clean up the issue.
More fines for Port of Morrow as unpermitted wastewater dumping continues
Oregon Capital Chronicle - By Alex Baumhardt - April 8, 2024
“The Port of Morrow continued this winter to spread more nitrogen-contaminated wastewater across eastern Oregon farm fields than permitted, further harming an already contaminated aquifer supplying drinking water to thousands of residents in Morrow and Umatilla counties.
Officials at the state’s second largest port, which sits along the Columbia River in Boardman, knew this would happen. So did regulators at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality who slapped the port with a $727,000 fine on Thursday for more than 880 permit violations over 80 days from November 2023 through February 2024.
“DEQ is continuing to hold the port accountable by issuing penalties when violations occur. It often takes time for facilities to construct necessary pollution control systems to bring them into compliance,” Antony Vorobyov, a spokesperson for the department, said in an email. Vorobyov added that the bulk of excess wastewater was applied to fields deemed at low risk for leaching nitrogen and nitrate into the aquifer.”
Mega-Dairy CAFOs Tout Methane Digesters to Green Their Image
In 2022, officials in Oregon’s Morrow County declared a state of emergency. The announcement was not in response to a sudden event like a wildfire, earthquake, or flood. Yet it was something just as grave: Their water was dangerously polluted.
For three decades, agricultural and industrial runoff has contaminated groundwater in the Lower Umatilla Basin of the state. Last summer, canvassers for the Oregon Health Authority went door to door, testing residents’ well water to see just how bad the situation had become.
“Right off the bat, it was pretty clear that the problem was really severe,” says Kaleb Lay, community organizer at Oregon Rural Action. Forty percent of the wells tested showed concentrations of nitrates above the level deemed safe by the US EPA. The link between high nitrate levels and several diseases is well-established; some newer studies suggest that even very low nitrate levels may heighten the risk of certain cancers. “You can’t throw a rock in the city of Boardman without finding someone who has cancer or a miscarriage,” says Lay. “The trick is there's no straightforward test a doctor can use to connect an individual's health condition to nitrates."
The Sierra Club - By Juliet Grable - March 7, 2024
In 2022, officials in Oregon’s Morrow County declared a state of emergency. The announcement was not in response to a sudden event like a wildfire, earthquake, or flood. Yet it was something just as grave: Their water was dangerously polluted.
For three decades, agricultural and industrial runoff has contaminated groundwater in the Lower Umatilla Basin of the state. Last summer, canvassers for the Oregon Health Authority went door to door, testing residents’ well water to see just how bad the situation had become.
“Right off the bat, it was pretty clear that the problem was really severe,” says Kaleb Lay, community organizer at Oregon Rural Action. Forty percent of the wells tested showed concentrations of nitrates above the level deemed safe by the US EPA. The link between high nitrate levels and several diseases is well-established; some newer studies suggest that even very low nitrate levels may heighten the risk of certain cancers. “You can’t throw a rock in the city of Boardman without finding someone who has cancer or a miscarriage,” says Lay. “The trick is there's no straightforward test a doctor can use to connect an individual's health condition to nitrates."
Umatilla, Morrow counties begin to chart a path to clean drinking water for Lower Umatilla Basin residents
fter years of giving out bottled water and filters to Lower Umatilla Basin residents affected by the region’s nitrate crisis, authorities are starting to look into ways they can connect those residents with clean sources of drinking water.
Whether this issue will be first resolved by local government or the federal court system is an open question.
Commissioners from Umatilla and Morrow counties held a joint meeting in Hermiston Wednesday to discuss plans to find alternatives to drawing water from private wells, which are more vulnerable to nitrate contamination.
By Antonio Sierra - OPB- March 14, 2024
After years of giving out bottled water and filters to Lower Umatilla Basin residents affected by the region’s nitrate crisis, authorities are starting to look into ways they can connect those residents with clean sources of drinking water.
Whether this issue will be first resolved by local government or the federal court system is an open question.
Commissioners from Umatilla and Morrow counties held a joint meeting in Hermiston Wednesday to discuss plans to find alternatives to drawing water from private wells, which are more vulnerable to nitrate contamination.
Fed up with slow fix, Oregon residents sue businesses over nitrate pollution
More than three decades into a nitrate pollution crisis, a handful of Lower Umatilla Basin residents are escalating their concerns to the courts.
Five residents living in the Boardman, Oregon, area — Mike Pearson, Michael and Virginia Brandt, and James Patrick Suter and Silvia Suter — filed a class action lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against some of Morrow County’s largest agricultural industries, which are the main contributors to nitrates in the area’s groundwater. The defendants are Threemile Canyon Farms, Lamb Weston, Madison Ranches, Beef Northwest Feeders and the Port of Morrow.
The lawsuit aims not only to secure compensation from the companies the residents hold responsible, but also to get them to foot the costs of cleaning up the groundwater and connecting residents with clean drinking water.
Many of the plaintiffs are mainstays of the tours and community meetings that sprouted up following Morrow County’s emergency declaration in 2022. Those meetings included visits from U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and other high-ranking state and federal officials. For many residents, the increased publicity did not result in clean drinking water.
“The Port (of Morrow) and these commercial farms have placed us and hundreds of other families in an impossible position,” Pearson said in a statement. “We can’t keep living like this.”
The plaintiffs’ legal team is being led by Seattle attorney Steve Berman, a well-known attorney who helped bring cases against Big Tobacco in the 90s. In an interview, he compared nitrate pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin to the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where thousands of people were exposed to lead and other contaminants through the municipal water system.
“People couldn’t get access to drinking water and I think everyone was amazed,” he said. “Well, here it is, right here in our backyard.”
By Antonio Sierra (OPB), Feb. 28, 2024
More than three decades into a nitrate pollution crisis, a handful of Lower Umatilla Basin residents are escalating their concerns to the courts.
Five residents living in the Boardman, Oregon, area — Mike Pearson, Michael and Virginia Brandt, and James Patrick Suter and Silvia Suter — filed a class action lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against some of Morrow County’s largest agricultural industries, which are the main contributors to nitrates in the area’s groundwater. The defendants are Threemile Canyon Farms, Lamb Weston, Madison Ranches, Beef Northwest Feeders and the Port of Morrow.
The lawsuit aims not only to secure compensation from the companies the residents hold responsible, but also to get them to foot the costs of cleaning up the groundwater and connecting residents with clean drinking water.
Many of the plaintiffs are mainstays of the tours and community meetings that sprouted up following Morrow County’s emergency declaration in 2022. Those meetings included visits from U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and other high-ranking state and federal officials. For many residents, the increased publicity did not result in clean drinking water.
“The Port (of Morrow) and these commercial farms have placed us and hundreds of other families in an impossible position,” Pearson said in a statement. “We can’t keep living like this.”
The plaintiffs’ legal team is being led by Seattle attorney Steve Berman, a well-known attorney who helped bring cases against Big Tobacco in the 90s. In an interview, he compared nitrate pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin to the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where thousands of people were exposed to lead and other contaminants through the municipal water system.
“People couldn’t get access to drinking water and I think everyone was amazed,” he said. “Well, here it is, right here in our backyard.”
Port of Morrow continues to apply excess nitrates on farmland, misses payment deadline
The port is set to pay the Oregon Health Authority $2 million over the next two years through the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Supplemental Environmental Projects. It completed the first payment of $1 million on Friday, almost a month after the payment’s due date.
Oregon Public Broadcasting - By Monica Samayoa January 26, 2024
The Port of Morrow violated its wastewater permit more than 270 times during the last two months of 2023, adding to the ongoing groundwater pollution crisis in the region, and failed to make a state agency payment on time.
According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the Port of Morrow’s annual report for 2023 shows it violated its newly modified wastewater permit 273 times in November and December.
This comes after the port reached a settlement agreement with DEQ and agreed to a $2.4 million fine. The port was fined in January 2022 for over-applying more than 200 tons of nitrogen-rich wastewater on nearby agricultural fields. The fine was later increased in June.
Under the recently settled agreement, DEQ modified the port’s permit by reducing the amount of wastewater the port can apply to nearby farmland during the non-growing season from November to February. The port is also required to add additional wastewater treatment capacity.
The port is set to pay the Oregon Health Authority $2 million over the next two years through the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Supplemental Environmental Projects. It completed the first payment of $1 million on Friday, almost a month after the payment’s due date.
Oregon Public Broadcasting - By Monica Samayoa January 26, 2024
The Port of Morrow violated its wastewater permit more than 270 times during the last two months of 2023, adding to the ongoing groundwater pollution crisis in the region, and failed to make a state agency payment on time.
According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the Port of Morrow’s annual report for 2023 shows it violated its newly modified wastewater permit 273 times in November and December.
This comes after the port reached a settlement agreement with DEQ and agreed to a $2.4 million fine. The port was fined in January 2022 for over-applying more than 200 tons of nitrogen-rich wastewater on nearby agricultural fields. The fine was later increased in June.
Under the recently settled agreement, DEQ modified the port’s permit by reducing the amount of wastewater the port can apply to nearby farmland during the non-growing season from November to February. The port is also required to add additional wastewater treatment capacity.
Port of Morrow continues polluting under new state sanctioned wastewater plan
The state says it will eventually fine the Port of Morrow for continuing to violate its wastewater permit and contaminate a drinking water aquifer
Oregon Capital Chronicle - By Alex Baumhardt - January 26, 2024 6:00 am
The Port of Morrow violated its wastewater permit more than 270 times in the last two months of 2023, overapplying nitrogen rich wastewater to fields atop an aquifer already contaminated by the compound, which is found in farm fertilizers and animal manure.
Managers at the port alerted officials at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, who expected the contamination and will eventually issue penalties, officials said. But state officials plan to wait several more months as the port likely continues to pollute. In the meantime, business as usual will continue at the state’s second largest port.
The violations follow years of pollution by the port, which has contributed to the contamination of well water that several thousand local residents rely on, including many low-income, Latino families. The environmental department essentially ignored the situation for years until issuing its first fine of $1.3 million in January 2022. That was bumped up to more than $2 million by June. An investigation by the Capital Chronicle found the port had not just violated its permit for three years, but for most of the last 15 years.
News of the latest pollution disappointed 82-year-old Gary Klinger, a resident of Boardman, where the port is located in eastern Oregon. Klinger had relied for years on his well drawing from the contaminated aquifer until he learned it contained three times the safe limit of nitrates.
“It’s sad that we have to be put through this, and we have to fight like this to have good water to drink,” he said.
The state says it will eventually fine the Port of Morrow for continuing to violate its wastewater permit and contaminate a drinking water aquifer
Oregon Capital Chronicle - By Alex Baumhardt - January 26, 2024 6:00 am
The Port of Morrow violated its wastewater permit more than 270 times in the last two months of 2023, overapplying nitrogen rich wastewater to fields atop an aquifer already contaminated by the compound, which is found in farm fertilizers and animal manure.
Managers at the port alerted officials at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, who expected the contamination and will eventually issue penalties, officials said. But state officials plan to wait several more months as the port likely continues to pollute. In the meantime, business as usual will continue at the state’s second largest port.
The violations follow years of pollution by the port, which has contributed to the contamination of well water that several thousand local residents rely on, including many low-income, Latino families. The environmental department essentially ignored the situation for years until issuing its first fine of $1.3 million in January 2022. That was bumped up to more than $2 million by June. An investigation by the Capital Chronicle found the port had not just violated its permit for three years, but for most of the last 15 years.
News of the latest pollution disappointed 82-year-old Gary Klinger, a resident of Boardman, where the port is located in eastern Oregon. Klinger had relied for years on his well drawing from the contaminated aquifer until he learned it contained three times the safe limit of nitrates.
“It’s sad that we have to be put through this, and we have to fight like this to have good water to drink,” he said.
From the publisher: Lawmakers' visit to Boardman a good sign
East Oregonian - by Andrew Cutler
Surely the visit at the end of November of three Oregon lawmakers to Boardman is a good sign for the future regarding the area’s water problems but the proof, as the saying goes, will be in the pudding.
Lawmakers Annessa Hartman, Gladstone, Ricki Ruiz, Gresham, and Khanh Pham, southeast Portland, all members of the Oregon House, were in town for a tour and to meet with locals.
East Oregonian - by Andrew Cutler
Surely the visit at the end of November of three Oregon lawmakers to Boardman is a good sign for the future regarding the area’s water problems but the proof, as the saying goes, will be in the pudding.
Lawmakers Annessa Hartman, Gladstone, Ricki Ruiz, Gresham, and Khanh Pham, southeast Portland, all members of the Oregon House, were in town for a tour and to meet with locals.
Vigil follows burning of community organizer's pickup in Boardman - Morrow County Sheriff's Office investigating suspicious fire
East Oregonian - By Berit Thorson - Dec. 1, 2023
BOARDMAN — After a staff member’s pickup was found in flames Monday, Nov. 27, members and supporters of Oregon Rural Action gathered at the site of the wreckage for a candlelight vigil on the side of the road.
Oregon Rural Action, a La Grande-based nonprofit organization focused on promoting clean water, air and land, has a campaign in Boardman that’s gained recent political traction after the community has dealt with high concentrations of nitrates in its well water for decades.
Nitrates often get into water from animal manure, human sewage and commercial fertilizers. Oregon Health Authority is offering eligible residents in the area free or subsidized well testing and treatment, and, if needed, water bottles.
East Oregonian - By Berit Thorson - Dec. 1, 2023
BOARDMAN — After a staff member’s pickup was found in flames Monday, Nov. 27, members and supporters of Oregon Rural Action gathered at the site of the wreckage for a candlelight vigil on the side of the road.
Oregon Rural Action, a La Grande-based nonprofit organization focused on promoting clean water, air and land, has a campaign in Boardman that’s gained recent political traction after the community has dealt with high concentrations of nitrates in its well water for decades.
Nitrates often get into water from animal manure, human sewage and commercial fertilizers. Oregon Health Authority is offering eligible residents in the area free or subsidized well testing and treatment, and, if needed, water bottles.