Baxter plan to cap tainted yard advances.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

The state Department of Environmental Quality has endorsed a company-proposed plan to place a "soil cap" on an 11-acre storage yard at the J.H. Baxter creosote plant in west Eugene.

The yard, used for years to store treated telephone poles, has arsenic contamination in shallow soil. Baxter sold its pole treatment business in March, however, and has no further need to use the storage yard for that purpose, said RueAnn Thomas, the company's environmental director.

The soil capping would consist of laying a fabric, similar to heavy-duty landscaping cloth, over the 11 acres and then placing 6 inches of compacted soil and 6 inches of crushed rock across the site.

A fence would be built to separate the contaminated area from the rest of Baxter's 42-acre property, and a deed restriction would be placed on the property requiring regular inspection and maintenance of the cap and fence, said Geoff Brown, DEQ cleanup manager.

The DEQ is seeking public comment on the proposal through Sept. 26. If the project goes forward, the capping work could begin in early October and be completed in a few weeks, DEQ and Baxter officials say. The estimated cost is $800,000.

The soil contamination is one of several environmental issues that has long plagued the factory on Baxter Street south of Roosevelt Boulevard. The plant also has groundwater contamination, mostly involving the chemical pentachlorophenol, with a plume that extends to residential neighborhoods to the north and west.

Neighbors have also long complained about noxious odors emanating from the plant, though complaints have dropped dramatically in recent months, according to the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency.

The air agency has received 51 complaints this year, including nine this month, about odors at the plant, spokeswoman Sally Markos said.

That compares with 221 complaints last year, 653 in 2005 and 751 in 2004.

Baxter has spent several million dollars on filters and other equipment designed to reduce the odors. Its workforce has dropped from 49 to 18 employees as a result of the sale of its pole treatment business, but the company expects to continue operating indefinitely as it meets the orders of old and new customers for railroad ties, marine pilings and other wood products, Thomas said.

Marie Kenyon, who lives near the plant and believes that her proximity to the facility has complicated her lung disease, said she wishes the company would excavate and remove any contaminated soil rather than cap it.

"It sounds more like a coverup than an actual repair or fix," she said. "That doesn't sound very good."

Rob Handy, a River Road Community Organization board member and community activist, voiced similar reservations. Soil capping is a good first step but not a good permanent solution, he said.

"We need to do cleanups where we've identified problems," he said. "With so many neighborhoods nearby and land so valuable because of our urban growth boundary, we can't be writing off acres of property that aren't being used prop- erly."

DEQ's Brown said soil capping is an interim strategy - but ultimately could be deemed the permanent strategy - for the storage yard. However, additional cleanup - such as digging up highly contaminated soils, asphalt paving and groundwater treatment - is likely to be required for the rest of the site, he said.

A final decision on which strategies to require is to be made next year, he said.

In addition to restricting any migration of arsenic, the soil capping will serve as a useful demarcation, so that utility workers or others who might do excavation work will know when they have reached the layer of contaminated soil, Brown said.

The proposed capping is primarily aimed at protecting Baxter workers who could come into contact with the contaminated soil, Brown said. It's possible, but less likely, that wind-driven soil has placed neighbors or others outside the factory at risk - with any such risk further reduced once the capping is complete, he said.

According to Brown, the only documented off-site contamination posing a potential risk to nearby residents was found in sediments and surface water in the Roosevelt Channel drainage ditch on the Baxter property.

That contamination will be addressed in the agency's final cleanup plan, he said.

Thomas said the company has not decided how or if it will use the fenced-off storage yard on the property's east edge. Options could include vehicle storage, building construction or leasing it out, she said.

But regardless, "it will be clean property," she said.

BAXTER PLANT

PLAN TO CAP SOIL

DEQ seeks public comment through Sept. 26

Written comments: Send to Geoff Brown, DEQ, 1102 Lincoln St., Suite 210, Eugene, OR 97401

More information: Call 686-7819 or visit www.deq.state.or.us/wr/LocalProjects/BaxterIRAMFactSheet.pdf