Oregon Pollution
After reviewing the air and water pollution problems of Portland Oregon from another student’s paper I have come up with some feasible solutions to the problems facing the area. According to the students paper the most serious problem with water pollution in Portland is contamination along the Willamette River from industrial manufacturing, and was listed as a national super fund site in December 2000. The student’s major concern with air pollution was about exposure to benzene from the burning of wood, coal, and oil. The thing that surprised me the most was the concern that 50% of their exposure to benzene came from cigarette smoke, their must not be any laws in Oregon that deal with smoking in public places like there are here in Arizona. I also must wonder why Oregon would still have a concern about exposures from painting, because we have had zero emission paint booths for quite a number of years.
The Willamette River runs within 20 mile of 70% of the homes in Oregon, a very astounding figure and it’s no wonder it is polluted. It seems that Oregonians have been neglecting this river and its pollution problems for a great many years. The Willamette is so polluted that according to (The Coast Range Association, 2000) “You can’t eat certain Willamette fish because they’re contaminated with mercury. On many days, you can’t swim or boat in the river because it is full of sewage overflows. The Portland Harbor qualifies as a Superfund site. And far too frequently, the river and many of its tributaries reach temperatures that are too high to provide suitable habitat for fish and other river life. It’s small wonder that 99% of the river’s historical spring Chinook salmon runs are gone, and (along with steelhead runs) are now listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.” Now is the time to act or this river may be lost to pollution for many generations. The first thing that needs to happen along the Willamette is toxic discharges into the river need to be cut to zero, right now, sign a law into effect that gives polluters 2 years to reduce their output to zero or be shut down. The second thing that needs to happen is every polluter needs to be held financially responsible for new water treatment plants that will be built along the river. And municipalities along the river should be held responsible for any sewage discharge into the river and should be made to also fund water treatment plants along the river. Lastly the state should set new standards for the amount of drainage that that has kept river flows down. Careful monitoring of water usage should be enacted and wetlands should be restored with water that was once diverted and wasted.
Benzene in the air in Oregon is an obvious factor since they currently do very little to control it. The EPA seems little concerned with Oregon since according to (Knight, 2006) “In March 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the Mobile Source Air Toxics rule that will initiate nation-wide reductions of benzene levels in gasoline. Unfortunately, the EPA’s proposed rule leaves Oregon and the Pacific NW with the highest benzene levels in gasoline in the country. Under EPA’s rule, our benzene levels will be twice east coast levels.” I guess that the EPA doesn’t feel like the people of Oregon have the clout or enough political power to care about them at all. Oregon needs to bite the bullet on this one and do everything necessary to control their air quality issues. If there are paint and body businesses that don’t have zero emission paint booths shut them down until they figure out how to pay for them or the can always rent them after hours from companies who do have them. Oregon doesn’t currently have vapor recovery system in place on gasoline pumps or transfer vehicles. Also in the Oregon DEQ website is a list of ways to limit your personal exposure to benzene including “Keep vehicles properly maintained, Drive less, Use alternative transportation (taking the bus or MAX, carpooling, riding a bike, walking, etc.), use certified woodstoves or fireplaces and burn only clean, dry wood or compressed logs, quit smoking, and avoid exposure to second hand smoke” While those are all good tips they come from the people who are entrusted with the public health, people who should have solid concrete answers to deal with the problems other than telling people how to limit their exposure. I guess the driving less advice is telling people that if you can afford it you should pay someone else to pump your gas for you, limiting your exposure but they are just a common worker and who cares about their health. I had never considered before this research that Oregon was still stuck in the dark ages or were a bunch of turtles with their heads pulled into their shells when it came to environmental issues by this was a real eye opener.
In summation Oregon from the outside seems like a nice place to live but from the inside must be very frustrating for people who have to deal with inadequate and antiquated laws and politicians. People of Oregon wake up and throw the bums out before it is too late.