In this undated photo provided by the EPA, a crew member uses a plasma torch to dismantle one of the retorts left on the J.H. Baxter site in Eugene. The U.S. government alleges that the retorts were used improperly to evaporate toxic wastewater into the air in 2019, violating federal environmental law.
Courtesy of the U.S. EPA
Despite the federal government shutdown, cleanup operations continue at the shuttered J.H. Baxter wood treatment plant in Eugene.
The J.H. Baxter facility closed in 2022, after nearly 80 years of operation. Its final years were marked by complaints of noxious odors, elevated dioxin levels in neighborhood yards and gardens, and numerous environmental probes and fines.
Since being shuttered, the plant has had its tank farm removed, and cleanup will continue until year’s end, says Alice Corcoran, an EPA Region 10 spokesperson.
“J.H. Baxter is funded with fiscal year 2025 funds and activities will continue,” she told KLCC. “And Baxter has been identified as a site by the agency to continue operations in the event of a shutdown. Both the time critical removal action and the Superfund site work will still be worked on.”
The EPA designated the plant a Superfund site in July, which will mean years of continued removal of heavy contaminants from the site area. The time critical removal actions have cost $13 million, and there may still be further soil sampling done at the site this winter.
Corcoran says a feasibility study will determine the expense and timeline of the Superfund stage. Another J.H. Baxter site in Weed, California — co-owned by Roseburg Forest Products — has been a Superfund site since 1989.
In April, J.H. Baxter’s CEO, 62-year-old Georgia Baxter-Krause, was sentenced for violating two environmental laws and then lying about it to regulators. She began serving her sentence at SeaTac Federal Detention Center on Oct. 1. She’s scheduled for release near the end of December.
And two class action lawsuits against J.H. Baxter were settled in the U.S. District Court of Oregon on Wednesday. Details of the settlement between the company and other parties are confidential.
Brian Bull is a reporter with KLCC. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
