Tag: DEQ

Community, Crime

SE 86th Ave Closed for EPA Cleanup

Earlier today, crews working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) closed a one-block section of SE 86th Avenue from SE Stark Street to SE Washington Street in an effort to contain a mercury spill. A representative for the EPA indicated that a person deposited the hazardous substance on a vehicle in an act of vandalism. The car is parked along the west side of SE 86th Avenue and is currently surrounded by plastic containment tarps to prevent the mercury from spilling onto the ground. 

Cleanup efforts will continue tomorrow and may last several days. Mercury is a silvery-white metal that remains liquid at room temperature. Mercury spills have the potential to cause damage to the human nervous system if a person suffers prolonged exposure or encounters high levels of the element. Cleanup crews are monitoring the site for signs of mercury vapor, which forms from droplets that evaporate. It is an odorless, colorless vapor that is invisible to the eye. People should be safe from the ill effects of mercury vapor if they stay outside the closed-off area.

People should avoid the area while cleanup is underway and not touch any mercury droplets if they encounter them. This is a developing story; we will update it with more information when it becomes available.

Update (August 27th, 2023): NWFF Environmental crews working with the US EPA and Oregon DEQ have returned to the site today. They anticipate another full day of cleanup followed by more testing. The results of those tests will determine if they need to return. The intentional mercury spill occurred in the early morning of August 24th. It took the car’s owner several days and many attempts to escalate the incident to the right agency.  

The initial examination found mercury droplets on the vehicle and mercury vapor inside the car’s engine compartment. EPA and DEQ officials on-site noted the dangerous “hot spot” for mercury is relatively confined. Crews have focused on the three curbside parking spaces around the vehicle and the planting strip next to them. Officials created a wider perimeter around the street and sidewalk to keep people from getting too close to the work zone. 

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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Business Closing, Construction, Demolition, New Residence

Wrecking Yard Becoming 16 Houses

Recently, the auto-wrecking salvage yard at 9245 E Burnside Street closed permanently with a handwritten note on the door reading “Closed going out of business.” The property owners sold the expansive land to a developer last week, and that buyer will construct 16 single-family homes on the nearly one-acre parcel. Cleanup crews are working to remove the remnants of the site’s industrial past ahead of redevelopment.

Image from Portland Maps with MV News illustrations

Each two-story home will have an attached garage and offer residents just under 1,500 square feet of living space. The 400-foot-long property has vehicle access along its eastern edge via an unpaved alleyway that extends from E Burnside to NE Glisan Street. Developing the homes fronted on the alley would allow for 25-foot wide lots with 15-foot wide structures, similar to traditional split-lot skinny infill housing.

Burnside Used Truck Parts was the primary business at this location. Several other entities used this address for automotive repair services and vehicle acquisition. According to the business’s now offline website, the wrecking company began operation in 1949. The decades of vehicle salvage at the site have left substantial vehicular debris on the property. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality cited the business for improper tire storage earlier this year. However, that infraction is minor, considering the type of work practiced at the site over the years. An excavator is on site clearing the back lots and reworking the base soil. The developer will demolish the office building after the city approves those permits.

NE 92nd Pl-94th Ave Alley

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscribers or sponsors. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.

Community, Infrastructure

New Recycling Law Introduces Statewide Changes

In this legislative session, Oregon lawmakers passed the Recycling Modernization Act (SB582), creating a significant overhaul of state policy that will modernize Oregon’s recycling system. Governor Brown signed the bill into law on August 6th. In a shift from the traditional recycling doctrine, partial funding for these enhancements will come from packaging, food service ware, and paper product manufacturers.

Across the country, consumers bear most of the recycling burden. Individuals must find an appropriate recycling collector for their items, pay recycling fees to trash services, and fund programs with tax dollars. When this law goes into effect at the beginning of 2022, Oregon will create a new “shared responsibility” recycling system. Consumers are still responsible for much of the recycling process and costs. However, this marks a shift in the government’s thinking on waste reduction. If recycling costs impact producers of single-use items, then there is an incentive to reduce packaging and improve the recyclability of products. Within the law, producers of non-recyclable products will pay higher fees to the program, incentivizing a shift to use recyclable materials.

Beyond adjusting the financial model for recycling, this law focuses on program expansion and logistical enhancements. The bill includes funding to improve recycling sorting facilities and consumer education programs throughout the state. In rural Oregon, the bill provides subsidies to get material to sorting facilities. Additionally, it increases access to recycling for people living in apartments and other underserved housing.

Expanding recycling collection will not necessarily reduce waste if items have nowhere to go after being sorted. Provisions in the law ensure collected plastics are actually recycled, not just transported and disposed of in a landfill. Not only will these changes increase the effective operation of Oregon’s recycling program, but they may also restore consumers’ faith that their recycling efforts are worthwhile.

Staff from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will spend the next few years developing the specific rules needed to implement this law. The DEQ created a form for stakeholders to register their desire to participate in the rules advisory committees or other advisory groups. Expect to see many small developments around Oregon’s recycling program as planners engage with the public and manufacturers. These changes affect a greater number of businesses than any other Oregon recycling law, and its thoughtful implementation will detriment if Oregonians see the desired effects on the environment.

Image courtesy of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

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