All concerned citizens welcome to participate in monthly community meetings
The Oregon Toxics Alliance (OTA) is working with Eugene residents to create solutions to the toxic air pollution problem in West Eugene.
The OTA’s action is in response to a 2010 survey, which was funded by grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The survey found significant health concerns and problems within the West Eugene population, and a possible correlation between the residents’ health and the air toxins emitted in the West Eugene Industrial Corridor.
The results showed that 52 percent of residents surveyed said they had respiratory problems, 12 percent had cardiovascular problems, and 34 percent discovered that their symptoms got worse when they detected the pollution.
According to the survey, 32 percent said they developed respiratory illness or
heart problems since moving to West Eugene.
OTA conducted the survey with Centro Latino Americano (CLA), a Eugene-based non-profit organization. Because West Eugene has a large Latino demographic (page 37), OTA hopes that the social trust CLA brings to the project will, in turn, build responsiveness in a sector of the community that has not yet come together about environmental health strategies.
The OTA found that, of the West Eugene Latino population surveyed, 66 percent said they had health problems.
Since the survey was conducted, OTA and CLA have been working with West Eugene community members to come up with solutions to the pollution problem and ultimately make recommendations to the City of Eugene.
In the meantime, OTA and CLA have formed a community advisory committee made up of concerned Eugene residents and Eugene business owners, including business owner Rodrigo Hidalgo from Adelante Latino, daycare owner Pam Johnson, and Ed Mesa from Swedish Engineering. They meet once per month at Centro Latino Americano’s headquarters to discuss the problem and develop recommendations for the future.
OTA and CLA encourage all concerned citizens to participate in the committee meetings and/or join the committee. Future meeting dates and times are posted on OTA’s Facebook page. Those interested can also sign up for email alerts on their website.
Since their first community meeting, OTA says that participants have each been assigned a task so that by the next meeting they will be one step closer to finding a solution.
Lisa Arkin, executive director for OTA, says they will be working with residents and business owners to create temporary solutions until the advisory committee generates permanent solutions.
As a temporary solution, for example, the committee is hosting workshops. They are holding an asthma workshop to aid residents with respiratory illness and recently hosted a green-car workshop about reducing carbon emissions from motor vehicles.
Residents whose health is not directly affected by the toxins say their quality of life is still negatively impacted – because of the smell.
Cheri Smith, a resident of West Eugene, says she can’t tell if the air quality has improved or not since OTA has started working with businesses.
“There are several factors in play, one in particular being which way the air is blowing and what time of year it is,” Smith says. “Winters can be bad, depending on many factors. Summers can be awful.”
Arkin said that they recently filed an appeal with Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) to call into question an air pollution permit issued with J.H. Baxter, a chemical manufacturing plant in the Trainsong neighborhood of West Eugene. The company is of particular concern among residents of West Eugene, according to OTA.
“The residents freely mentioned this company as a source (of toxins)” Arkin said. “It is the facility that people are most concerned about for its contributions to poor ambient air quality.”
The company is a wood treatment facility that produces pesticides and other wood preservatives on site. The facility, Arkin says, emits carcinogens, which are a possible cause of respiratory problems among residents.
Part of the appeal requests that OTA and the Rogue Group Sierra Club have the right to petition the LRAPA Board to determine that the facts and remedies regarding the permit issued to J.H. Baxter meet all of the requirements of the Clean Air Act, to make sure it accounts adequately for public health concerns and to ensure it complies with the 1994 Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice.
The letter states the merits of their complaints, which include: the
environmental hazards J.H. Baxter presents (i.e. emitting air pollutants such as naphthalene, coal tar, creosote, etc), the odor emitted from Baxter interferes with quality of living, and that LRAPA does not monitor or limit emissions produced from drying logs. These are just a few of the complaints OTA called into question in their appeal.
LRAPA and the City of Eugene have yet to respond in regards to the appeal concerning J.H. Baxter.
However, Andrea Ortiz, board member of LRAPA and city councilor of the City of Eugene, responded with regard to the survey conducted by OTA and CLA and the action LRAPA is taking to resolve the issue.
“The challenge has been how to respond… I haven’t seen all the information,” Ortiz says. “We requested the questions and responses to the surveys and have yet to hear back.”
Ortiz contests that LRAPA has already done a lot of work on the issue so far, but is unsure at this point what requests OTA and CLA have for the city and LRAPA.
OTA says that the community advisory committee projects they will be able to make recommendations to the City of Eugene on this issue by summer 2011.
Alison Guzman, the community outreach coordinator for OTA, says that they will be taking an entirely grassroots approach towards solving the problem. She hopes that residents take an active role within the advisory committee.
“We’re always encouraging residents to engage,” she said. “The power is in their hands.”
For more on times and dates for workshops and community advisory meetings, as well as progress updates, join Oregon Toxics Alliance on their Facebook page, sign up for their email alerts, send them an email, or call them at 541.465.8860.
Heather Ah San is a senior at the University of Oregon studying magazine and news editorial journalism. She also works as a scene reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald, the school’s student newspaper.
Photo Credit: Oregon Toxic Alliance
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I see more jobs disappearing, and never returning or being replaced. But hey!! At least we’ll have clean air!!
Nice article Heather!!! Keep up the good work.
Sorry to say this, but so many paragraphs make it hard to read, great story though – thanks. Very helpful, very much appreciated.