`OUR LEGACY TO THE FUTURE'.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - Standing on an old heap of mercury-laced mining waste Wednesday, Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced that he would seek $8 million in federal money to clean up the site as part of his ambitious goal to restore the Willamette River.

The governor made a series of stops along the river to highlight what he calls his top environmental priority.

"We must clean up the industrial pollutants and toxins that have contaminated the river," he said. "We must return the river to its natural state, restoring its abundant wildlife and pristine riverbanks."

The abandoned Black Butte Mine south of Cottage Grove is one of the bigger sources of mercury pollution in the headwaters of the Willamette.

Miners there extracted mercury from ore in the 1890s through the late 1960s, leaving behind 300,000 cubic yards of contaminated tailings next to Dennis Creek, a tributary to the Coast Fork of the Willamette River. That's enough waste rock to fill 4,286 rail cars.

High mercury levels in the water have contaminated fish as well, and the state advises people to limit or avoid eating fish from the Coast Fork, including Cottage Grove Lake.

At later stops in Corvallis and Salem, Kulongoski called for citizens and local governments to get more involved in cleaning up the river. He also announced his support for a new river trail from Corvallis to Newberg.

He said the actions he announced are only the first of many, and he planned to outline further steps during a news conference today in Portland.

"I believe the cleanup of the Willamette River must be our legacy to the future," he said at the mine. "But the issues that face this river are complex, and we know this will not be an easy fix or a quick one."

Fellow Democrat Ron Wyden, Oregon's senior senator, said the mercury contamination is an "extraordinarily serious situation" that puts people at risk today and threatens future generations. In some places in the Willamette basin, fish contain five times the mercury considered safe for human consumption, he noted.

"I mean, these are not tough calls folks," said Wyden, who accompanied Kulongoski on the river tour. "This is a situation that calls out for priority attention and, in effect, emergency kinds of measures. ... It's a shame that this environmental and cultural treasure has been tarnished with the stain of pollution and misuse."

Wyden said he plans to seek "several million dollars" for the Black Butte Mine cleanup in a water resources funding bill that the Senate will take up soon.

"It is going to be a heavy lift given this deficit picture," he said. "It's going to be hard to do."

The governor said that instead of imposing further limits or penalties on known industrial polluters, he will work on long-term efforts to address nonspecific sources of pollution, such as urban and agricultural runoff.

Kulongoski also said he wants to find a way to fund the state's Pesticide Use Reporting System, which the Legislature approved five years ago to track the types and amounts of pesticides used in Oregon. Republican lawmakers from rural areas have thwarted efforts to launch the system by withholding funding.

"I will work to find ways we can reduce the toxins that are entering our environment in the first place," the governor said. "Everyone who lives, recreates and does business in the Willamette basin has a role to play in this critical effort."

Larry Tuttle, co-director of the Portland-based Center for Environmental Equity, said he welcomes attention on the problem of old mines spoiling the river system, but he's skeptical of more planning initiatives.

"A lot of politicians have gotten a lot of mileage, saying they're going to clean up the Willamette," said Tuttle, whose group has taken a strong interest in mining issues in southwest Lane County.

State and federal officials have spent two decades studying and analyzing the problems with the river, he said.

"Now we need some action," he said. "The way our organization and members will judge the governor is whether or not he directs his agencies to issue citations to polluters who are not complying with the law and cleaning up past pollution."

TOXIC LEGACY 

About the Black Butte Mine south of Cottage Grove:

What: An old mercury mine in the hills near London. It was one of several sources of mercury in the area and operated intermittently from the late 1890s to 1969, when it closed. It was the fourth-largest mercury mine in Oregon.

How it worked: Miners hauled cinnabar ore to crude brick kilns, where the mineral was burned to extract mercury-rich vapor. The vapor was condensed to the liquid form. So much would be incinerated and vaporized at times that miners could see mercury clinging to the needles of surrounding trees, according to historical accounts.

What they did with it: Much of the mercury was used to collect gold dust from other mining operations. When mixed with mercury, gold attaches to the metallic element.

The problem: High levels of mercury were left behind in tailings piled along Dennis Creek, part of the headwaters of the Willamette River system. The mercury has been seeping into the creek and the Coast Fork of the Willamette for more than a century, polluting the river and accumulating in the tissue of fish.

What's being done about it: With financial support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Oregon's "orphan site account," the state Department of Environmental Quality and Oregon State University have collaborated in a study of soil samples from the mine site. The aim is to provide broader understanding of mercury distribution in the Dennis Creek watershed.

CAPTION(S):

Gov. Ted Kulongoski watches for wildlife as he travels between Peoria and Corvallis on the Willamette River on Wednesday. The governor is on a two-day tour to push for cleanup of the river, which is contaminated with high levels of dioxin, lead, mercury, arsenic, pesticides and other chemicals.