Cruising the Willamette River on a perfectly sunny summer afternoon, it was tempting to forget that we were in the middle of a Superfund site.
But as one of our tour guides reminded me, “It’s what you can’t see that will hurt you.”
Cruising the Willamette River on a perfectly sunny summer afternoon, it was tempting to forget that we were in the middle of a Superfund site.
But as one of our tour guides reminded me, “It’s what you can’t see that will hurt you.”
PGE's coal fired Boardman Power Plant. Photo from Ted Timmons
The news must have landed at PGE like a ton of coal.
Oregon DEQ says its looking at three options for an early closure of PGE’s coal-fired power plant at Boardman. They call on the utility to spend millions more to keep the plant running, or shutting it down a lot earlier than PGE wants.
PGE's coal fired Boardman Power Plant. Photo from Ted Timmons
Hearings before the Public Utility Commission are usually pretty dull events. But Wednesday’s hearing in Portland promises to be very, very different.
That’s because environmental groups are rallying the troops, urging them to show up in huge numbers.
Their message to the PUC? Shut down the Boardman coal-fired power plant by 2014.
After two years of study and hearings, Oregon’s DEQ has a plan to make our streams, rivers and lakes safer for people and wildlife.
You’d think that tougher standards for toxic pollution in the air we breathe would be an easy sell, especially here in Portland.
But Mary Peveto of Neighbors for Clean Air tells me there’s a lot of frustration after what people heard at last night’s meeting put on by Oregon DEQ.
I was out of town when I got a phone call from Brock Howell of Environment Oregon who was in the middle of this protest at the time. Too bad I wasn’t able to record the audio. I could hear lots of cars in the background – honking in solidarity with the protesters. It was something to hear, if not seen.
EO, Sierra Club and Climate Solutions put this together at a gas station that sells BP petroleum products.
Mary Peveto remembers the moment she became a clean air activist.
The NW Portland resident had just typed the name of her daughter’s school into a national database on toxic air quality. Much to her surprise – and horror – the school was ranked as one of the worst in the country.
PGE's coal fired Boardman Power Plant. Photo from Ted Timmons
Environmental groups hope they’ve found another way to force an early closure of Oregon’s only coal fired power plant, the PGE facility near Boardman.
The idea is to make PGE to spend so much money on pollution controls, the utility will decide that shutting down Boardman will be cheaper than cleaning it up.
Yesterday we told you that Klamath County got a failing grade in a national report on air quality. Turns out there may be more at stake than just a little bit of public embarrassment. The Klamath Falls Herald and News reports that the failing grade could complicate plans to build a $70 million biomass plant in the area.
A biomass plant burns wood to generate electricity. The pollution from burning wood can be high in particulates – small specks of dust and soot. And guess why Klamath County got that “F”. That’s right, because of too many “unhealthy air” days with high levels of particulates. You can see where this is headed. Environmental officials are trying to figure out if the plant will help, or hurt, air quality.
See Klamath Falls Herald And News: Bad air could impact biomass plant
The American Lung Association releases its annual clean air report and it’s not kind to three counties in Oregon.
Lane, Jackson and Klamath counties get at least one flunking grade. Eugene-Springfield earns a spot on one of the group’s “Most Polluted Cities” lists.
