First Eugene homes to be cleaned of JH Baxter pollution will get new soil this month
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will begin soil cleanup for the first seven homes polluted with dioxin from the nearby J.H. Baxter plant "after Thanksgiving," officials from the DEQ and federal Environmental Protection Agency told residents during a virtual townhall Monday night.
EPA officials said cleanup of the former wood processing facility on Roosevelt Drive will come in the winter or spring of 2023-24. DEQ officials couldn't say when they would begin cleanup for an additional 31 yards with lower levels of dioxin than the seven homes or for the four yards with high dioxin levels that were discovered later.
According to the EPA, dioxins "can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones." An Oregon Health Authority study found higher rates of lung cancer and Hodgkin's Lymphoma in west Eugene but did not tie the rates to a specific source.
Baxter residential cleanup
J.H. Baxter "mothballed" the facility on Jan. 31, 2022. The plant had operated since 1940 and had a history of environmental violations. DEQ oversaw testing in nearby soil, discovering dioxins in some.
Over two rounds of testing, DEQ found dioxin above 40 parts per trillion (ppt), enough to harm young children, in 11 yards near Baxter. For the first seven of these homes, DEQ has removed trees and brush and if all goes according to plan, the agency will begin removing and replacing soil shortly after Thanksgiving.
"We put out for bids. We specified they that we were looking for them to start after Thanksgiving, and hopefully we'll have everything done before Christmas," said Brad Schultz, DEQ cleanup and emergency responses manager.
DEQ spokesperson Dylan Darling said there is not yet a timeline for cleanup of the soil at four homes with dioxin above 40 ppt found in the second round of testing. They are a "high priority for future cleanup," Darling said, and how long it takes depends on funding availability.
DEQ found dioxin between 4.7 and 40 ppt, which officials said is less dangerous, in an additional 31 yards. Agency representatives said they could not say when they would clean these. They also said they have not yet determined the parameters of how far the dioxin is.
"We do know that we need to do some additional sampling and we have not determined or figured out yet when," DEQ project manager Susan Turnblom said.
Baxter facility cleanup
The EPA will begin cleaning Baxter's industrial site in either the end of the year or the beginning 2024, officials said.
"The big piece of that removal action will be to empty the tanks," said Randy Nattis, the EPA project lead for Baxter. "Anything in those areas will be taken down, disposed of, either by recycling or disposing. Either way, taken off-site. The hope is that that activity will start in winter or spring."
EPA most recently finished sampling Baxter's treatment tanks. It is currently developing documents for a cost estimate and a formal description of the scope of work.
Baxter as a Superfund site
Nattis said samples the EPA has taken from the plant and the surrounding waterways will be used to determine if the Baxter site is eligible to be put on the national Superfund list. EPA Superfund sites are hazardous locations the federal agency has identified as priorities for cleanup.
The main benefit of the Baxter site as a Superfund site is financial. The designation would give the EPA "more teeth" in trying to get Baxter to pay, and if Baxter does prove it can't pay, the agencies could access the national fund for these sites.
"These cleanups are very expensive," Nattis said, and a Superfund designation "definitely puts the responsible party on the table and gives some teeth to enforce against them to potentially direct cleanup if they have deep pockets. Secondly, it opens up a huge financial piggy bank."
Nattis said cleanup for a site like Baxter is split into a removal process where the site is cleaned and a remedial process where the site's new purpose is identified and built.
All non-Superfund sites in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska share $10 million from the EPA for removal. EPA has not completed its cost estimate, but Nattis said cleaning Baxter and the homes around it will likely cost multiple times that.
"That's where the Superfund designation really comes in," he said. "It opens up a larger checkbook to help pay for these cleanups."
As of Sept. 7, there are 1,178 active Superfund sites, 439 deleted Superfund sites (which usually means the site has been cleaned) and 39 proposed sites nationwide.
In Oregon, there are 14 active traditional Superfund sites, five cleaned sites, one proposed site at Astoria Marine Construction Co. and one active Superfund alternative site (a program where the polluter agrees to clean the site under EPA supervision) at Alkali Lake.
One of those active sites is in Lane County: the Black Butte Mine. The mine, 10 miles south of Cottage Grove, operated from the 1880s to the 1960s and leaked mercury as far north as Cottage Grove Reservoir. The EPA designated it a Superfund site in 2010. Cleanup is ongoing.
Baxter class-action lawsuit
A class-action lawsuit alleging harm to homeowners and renters of 5,860 homes near the J.H. Baxter site has been filed in federal court. The suit lists both J.H. Baxter & Co and CEO Georgia Baxter-Krause as defendants.
So far, the judge has given both sides three extensions to discover information and has scheduled a status conference for Nov. 29.
Recent actions between Eugene City Council and industry
In October, Eugene city councilors directed staff to conduct outreach to develop stricter rules on industrial activity in Eugene, with multiple councilors saying they want to do a better job at ensuring homes and industry aren't located near each other.
Monday, councilors gave the greenlight to a new Cintas uniform cleaning and dyeing plant in west Eugene. The nearest home will be about 700 feet from the property line, compared to about 200 feet for Baxter.
Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached at atorres@registerguard.com or on twitter @alanfryetorres
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: EPA seeks Superfund designation for JH Baxter site in Eugene
