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.
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.
PGE's coal-fired power plant near Boardman, OR. Photo from Brian Pasko.
The campaign to shut down Oregon’s only coal-fired power plant by 2014 just got some big news.
The Department of Environmental Quality says it will recommend that the state reject PGE’s proposal to close the Boardman power plant by 2020, and take some additional time to study alternatives for an early shut down.
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.
An interesting story is playing out in Northwest Portland, where Oregon DEQ has seriously backpedaled on a statement it made about air toxins from the ESCO foundry.
According to the NW Examiner, DEQ told residents almost a year ago that air pollution from the foundry was “only a sliver of the area’s air pollution.” But now DEQ is saying that it’s much higher, and for people who live close to ESCO, 95% of the toxins they breathe come from the foundry.
Along the Willamette River Water Trail. Photo from Oregon Parks and Recreation.
If we’re ever going to restore the Willamette River basin, it’s going to cost a huge chunk of money.
Anywhere from about $593 million to $1.2 billion, according to Oregon DEQ.
In a new report, DEQ says decades of farming, logging and urban development have degraded the basins streams and rivers.
LNG pipeline protesters at a December 2009 rally in Portland.
Although this is listed on my events story of the day, it’s worth a new mention. Oregon DEQ is holding a public meeting tonight in Astoria about the Bradwood Landing LNG project.
Also, I’ve learned a little bit more about the Wyden-Merkley LNG bill.
The first year of electronics recycling programs in Oregon and Washington were a huge success.
Both states started nearly identical programs at the beginning of 2009 and reported their yearly results today.
With about $2.7 million in stimulus money to spend, Oregon DEQ is starting cleanup at 13 sites around the state that have been contaminated by gasoline leaks.
In some cases, the leaks were so widespread, they contaminated the drinking water for homes, businesses and even a school.
Of the 13 sites, DEQ has announced actions at four locations:
