Bold plan for dirty river.

Byline: The Register-Guard

There's an old saying in guru circles: Don't push the river; it flows by itself. But when it comes to cleaning up a major waterway like the Willamette River, it often takes a lot of pushing before results start flowing.

Back in the 1960s, Gov. Tom McCall led the campaign that produced the systematic cleanup of the Willamette. As a result, the river went from being one of the nation's filthiest streams - filled with sludge from pulp mills, raw sewage and dead fish - to a revitalized waterway that was featured on the cover of a 1972 National Geographic as a shining example of a river brought back from environmental death.

Now, the river needs help again. With 2 million people living in the valley, along with a broad spectrum of industries and agriculture, the Willamette has become badly polluted with heavy metals, pesticides, waste and chlorinated water.

Last Tuesday, Democrats from the Oregon Senate gathered on the river's bank in Salem to announce the boldest proposal to clean up the Willamette since the McCall-led initiative more than three decades ago.

They were there to begin their campaign for Senate Bill 555, which would phase out "mixing zones." Those are areas along the river where wastewater from sewage plants and industries blend with, and are diluted by, river water before the state tests for levels of toxic waste at the edges of the zones.

Sponsored by Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, and Sen. Charlie Ringo, D-Beaverton, SB 555 would make Oregon the first state in the nation to phase out mixing zones. It's the cornerstone of a package of cleanup bills called the Healthy Rivers Campaign.

SB 555 has drawn opposition from the Associated Oregon Industries, which accuses the bill's backers of "scare tactics" and warns that it would create a financial disaster for cities and industries.

Such anti-environmental hyperbole could use a mixing zone of its own. Courtney and Ringo say their bill would gradually phase out the zones and that timing is open to negotiation. The bill would provide exceptions for municipalities or industries that would face economic hardship.

Critics question why Oregon should be the first state to phase out mixing zones. That's the wrong question in a state that has long prided itself on environmental "firsts," such as the state's landmark bottle and beach bills. A better question is: Why shouldn't Oregon be the first state to adopt a bill that phases out mixing zones and cleans up an iconic river, while taking care to balance environmental and business interests in the process?

Gov. Ted Kulongoski is taking a wait-and-see approach to the bill. That's appropriate, given the need to make certain it contains adequate protections for businesses and communities. But it would be nice to see him take a higher profile leadership role in the Healthy Rivers effort, especially given his pledge to make the Willamette cleanup the centerpiece of his environmental agenda.

The latest restoration of the Willamette River will require an extensive effort and probably decades, not years, to accomplish. The river flows from the Cascade Mountains to Portland, and along the way encounters pollution problems ranging from agricultural and industrial runoff to rapidly disappearing wetlands.

It will take more than passage of SB 555 to solve such a complex array of problems. But Courtney and Ringo have made a bold and promising start to this long journey.