The Portland Harbor Superfund Site includes a portion of the Lower Willamette River and some surrounding upland areas, extending roughly from the Fremont Bridge to Sauvie Island in Portland, Oregon ( see map: PortlandHarborMap. jpg). This area was contaminated from decades of industrial use along the Willamette River.
What caused the Portland Harbor Superfund site?
Background. The Portland Harbor Superfund Site includes an in-river and an upland portion of the lower Willamette River, contaminated from decades of industrial use along the Willamette River.
What is the Superfund and what is it used for?
CERCLA is informally called Superfund. It allows EPA to clean up contaminated sites. It also forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work.
Why is it called a Superfund site?
The program is designed to investigate and clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as “Superfund” sites.
What is the largest Superfund site in the US?
Hanford (USDOE) Site
The 586 square mile Hanford Site is home to one of the largest Superfund cleanups in the nation.
How many Superfund sites are in Oregon?
The Environmental Protection Agency has a special designation for the country’s most-polluted places: Superfund Sites. Oregon is home to a number of these sites, which can all be found on the National Priorities List, an archive of the dirtiest places in the U.S., of which there are more than 1,300.
Where is the Portland Harbor?
The Portland Harbor Superfund Site in Portland, Oregon is located in the lower Willamette River, just south of the Columbia Slough (river mile 1.9) and north of the Broadway Bridge (river mile 11.8).
What does Superfund stand for?
Summary of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund)
Who funds the Superfund?
The Superfund trust fund receives money from three major sources annually: • $553 million from petroleum excise taxes; • $273 million from chemical feedstock excise taxes; and • $504 million from environmental income taxes.
Is the Superfund program successful?
Even the Clinton Administration admits the program does not work. One reason for is that, despite expenditures of between $20 billion and $30 billion, Superfund has failed to clean up more than a small fraction of the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites.
Are Superfund sites safe?
Research shows adverse health effects most likely occur within a 1.8 mile boundary around a Superfund site. Approximately 21 million people live within a mile (PDF) of a Superfund site, potentially exposing them all to harmful chemicals and toxins such as lead, arsenic, and mercury.
What state has most Superfund sites?
Superfund sites by state
The states with the most Superfund sites were New Jersey (113 sites), California (97 sites) and Pennsylvania (95 sites). The states with the fewest Superfund sites were North Dakota (no sites), Nevada (one site) and South Dakota (two sites).
How far from a Superfund site is safe?
Superfund Sites – Environmental Hazards
This vapor intrusion then poses further risk to nearby residents, inside of their homes where they would otherwise be inclined to feel safe. Obviously, proximity to a Superfund site is critical; four miles’ distance poses a decreased health risk as compared to a mere forty feet.
What is the most toxic place in America?
Kotzebue, Alaska
The title for most toxic location in the United States goes to a remote, and perhaps surprising location. According to the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), Kotzebue, Alaska, a city of 3,500 residents located 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle takes that dubious honor.
What is the most toxic place on earth?
DZERZHINSK, RUSSIA: This city of 245,000 has been in the top 10 since 2006—and was dubbed the most chemically polluted city in the world by Guinness World Records in 2011—boasting a “white sea” in the middle of town that is the residue of Soviet-era chemical manufacturing…
What is the most contaminated place in the US?
Around 3,500 residents reside in Kotzebue, AK, roughly 30 miles beyond the Arctic Circle. Iñupiat Eskimos make up 70% of the population. According to 2016 research data, the town is the most toxic place in America. Kotzebue produced at least 756 million pounds of toxic chemicals.
How dirty is the Willamette River?
A century of poison has made the Willamette one of the most polluted rivers in the United States – it contains at least 65 chemicals that risk human and environmental health, according to the EPA, including petroleum, poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides like DDT, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy
Why is the Willamette River polluted?
A City’s Waste
As Portland grew, so did the city’s impact on the Willamette. Human waste and polluted stormwater flowed directly into the river alongside hazardous chemical byproducts, which were produced in huge quantities by riverside factories, and toxic pesticides that were sprayed onto crops.
Does Portland have a Harbor?
The North Portland Harbor is an Oregon waterway or channel in Multnomah County, specifically in Portland.
What County is Portland Harbor in?
The North Portland Harbor is an Oregon waterway or channel in Multnomah County, specifically in Portland. An anabranch, about 5 miles long, of the Columbia River, it separates Hayden and Tomahawk islands from the mainland.
Is Portland Maine a deep water port?
It is strategically located, being the nearest American deepwater port to Europe, and serves as a key center for shipping by both land and sea. Imports primarily include crude petroleum and chemicals, while exports include wood pulp and petroleum products.