Pollution

BIPOC caucus members say they'll work with local legislators to find solution to Morrow and Umatilla counties' nitrate pollution problem.

Oregon Rural Action, a group based out of La Grande that has been active in pushing state officials to address decades of groundwater pollution in Morrow and Umatilla counties, announced the fire in a press release Monday. The group called on local and state authorities to fully investigate the fire and protect its employees.

Since the site closed last year, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been tag-teaming on gauging the level of pollutants and hazards at the shuttered wood-treatment facility.

Federal regulators will review the use of a chemical found in tires after a petition from Native American tribes in California and Washington state.

The Port of Morrow has agreed to pay more than $2.4 million over repeated wastewater violations in Eastern Oregon.

The operators of Winchester Dam in Oregon face more than $134,000 in fines for water violations on top of $27.6 million for killing lamprey.

The EPA has fined a seafood company nearly $1 million for water pollution near the Oregon and Washington coasts.

At a recent hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, senators pointed to Eastern Oregon, where more than 4,000 wells are at risk from decades of nitrate pollution, and to Central Oregon, where dozens of people blame a gravel mine for sudden plumbing disasters and health concerns.

Noble Family Dairy in southern Oregon allowed cow manure to flow into the Applegate River for 20 days, causing dangerous levels of E. coli in the water.

Sandy's wastewater treatment facility regularly released more pollutants than environmental permits allowed over the past six years.