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Daphne Yuen Source Control and Cleanup at the Portland Harbor Superfund Site

This session will look the source management options within the Portland Harbor Superfund Site located on the Willamette River, given the potential health threats this site poses to the people who interact with it. Though the water has been deemed safe enough for swimming, the bottom of the river is a different story as decades of contaminants such as PCBs, heavy metals and various other pollutants have settled, resulting in a toxic environmental legacy. Much of the polluted area has been designated as a Superfund site from the Fremont Bridge to about where the river meets the Columbia River, and the EPA suspects cleanup could cost up to 2.2 billion dollars.

The EPA is currently working with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to look at cleanup solutions. While the EPA looks at risk assessment, the OR DEQ is much more concerned with management activities, such as source control. Currently both organizations are conducting studies and research around the Portland Harbor Superfund Site to devise the best way possible to clean up the contaminants without causing more disturbance and damage to the surrounding area. Thus this session will discuss the current approaches and ways that have been implemented to cleanup to minimize the further spread of pollutants in the Superfund site. 

Focus Questions

  1. How has lead and chemical exposure impacted the health and the area of the Portland Harbor Site, such as fisherman, fish consumers, or recreational/sport aquatic users?
  2. What environmental regulations and management approaches have been initiated to date surrounding this health risk? And what are some potential control and cleanup approaches for this Superfund site that address source pollution?
  3. Is the Portland Superfund site typical of many former sites of heavy industry, and if so, what is the best strategy for addressing pollutants that seem difficult if not impossible to remove? What larger lessons result in terms of contemporary and future risks from historical industrial processes and what can be done about them?

Panelists

  • Heidi Blischke, Principal Hydorlogist, GSI Water Solutions

Heidi Blischke has a MS in Geology and Civil Engineering from OSU, a BS in both Geology and Business Administration/Marketing from University of Illinois. She has worked on many projects that have dealt with managing and supporting environmental cleanup sites in the state of Oregon.

  • Matt McClincy, Portland Harbor Source Control Coordinator Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

    Matt McClincy is the DEQ Source Control Coordinator for the Portland Harbor Superfund Site.  He is responsible for coordinating DEQ’s upland cleanup efforts (source control) with the pending in-water EPA directed sediment remedy.  He has a MS in Geology from Portland State University and a BS in Geology from the University of Puget Sound.

  • Todd Watson, Lewis & Clark Psychology Professor

Todd D. Watson is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lewis & Clark College. He received a PhD in Biopsychology from Stony Brook University, and completed an NIAAA funded post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism at the Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Watson and his students study the neurocognitive correlates of impulsive behaviors with potential adverse health consequences such as binge drinking and disinhibited eating.

  • Daphne Yuen, Lewis & Clark Undergraduate Student

Daphne Yuen is an Environmental Studies major at Lewis & Clark and a scholarly session organizer. During the summer of 2014, she will be studying in Japan as part of the Environmental Studies Department Overseas Program. 

Annotated Bibliography

  • Allan, Sarah E., Gregory J. Sower, and Kim A. Anderson. 2011. “Estimating Risk at a Superfund Site Using Passive Sampling Devices as Biological Surrogates in Human Health Risk Models.” Chemosphere 85 (6): 920–27. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.06.051.

This article discusses the work and research Allan, Sower and Anderson at Oregon State University have done around the Portland Superfund Site.

This is the official website of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site, it is a useful resource because it talks about the current status of the site as well as the many risks associated with the contaminated area.

  • Folks, Jordan Douglas. 2012. “Assessing Environmental Inequality in Portland, Oregon: An Exploration of Local Environmental Justice Struggles.” M.S. diss., Portland State University.

Folks’ dissertation looks at how individuals and families of different incomes suffer the environmental impacts from various sites. 

This website is hosted by the Lower Willamette Group and proves to be useful as the organization works under the EPA. With this website and the other two websites listed here, it will provide a comparison of assessments by various organizations.

This is a news blog that talks about the Superfund site and the steps and events that have occurred over the last few years around the site.

This is another website that is dedicated to the Portland Harbor Superfund site, but this site assesses the damage done by the contaminants that have accumulated over the years and may point to certain parties responsible for the contamination.

Environmental Studies is located in room 343A of John R. Howard Hall on the Undergraduate Campus.
MSC: 62

email 

voice 503-768-7790 
fax 503-768-7620 

Symposium Advisor Jessica Kleiss

  • Environmental Studies
    Lewis & Clark
    615 S. Palatine Hill Road MSC 62
    Portland OR 97219