Candidates point out possible health risk.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

Two community leaders up for election next month criticized the J.H. Baxter plant in west Eugene and the county air protection agency on Monday for failing to alert citizens to possible health risks from a February fire at the plant.

The move draws into the election campaign an issue that has been highly controversial in recent years in northwest Eugene: airborne emissions from the Baxter creosoting and wood treating plant, and their impact on neighbors.

The head of the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency on Tuesday said that in hindsight the agency should have given more public notice. But he characterized the incident at the Roosevelt Boulevard factory as comparatively minor.

During a press conference at a home near the plant, landscape contractor Rob Handy and City Councilor Andrea Ortiz said the public should have been notified during the 51 days that the plant operated without a fume-capturing unit that was temporarily knocked out by the fire. Handy is running against incumbent Lane County Commissioner Bobby Green. In the campaign, Handy has stressed his environmental credentials. Ortiz is running to keep her seat on the Eugene City Council. She faces John Crane to represent Ward 7.

Residents near a wood-treatment facility such as Baxter may be exposed to pentachlorophenol, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined to be a respiratory irritant and carcinogen, Handy said.

"I would hope that the company and (the local air protection agency) could have worked together to inform the neighbors so that they could have had the opportunity to make good choices about reducing exposures to their children," Handy said.

Handy, a board member with the River Road Community Organization, is seeking in the May 20 election to represent north Eugene on the county board.

Cheri Smith, who lives about a half-mile from the plant, said she learned about the fire only after complaining to the air agency and to local air-quality advocates about an odor in the air.

"Why wasn't anyone notified of this?" she asked. "This was two months after the fact that we learned something about it."

Merlyn Hough, director of the local agency, which enforces federal and state air pollution laws in Lane County, said the incident was "not a major emissions event." The plant emits a comparatively low amount of hazardous air pollutants annually, and it released a fraction of that amount during the 51-day period, Hough said.

However, "it became clear (after the fire) that we didn't do a good job of keeping people advised of the problem and the progress to fix the problem," Hough said. "In a recurrence, we would provide weekly updates to neighbors on the progress to correct the problem."

The agency continues to investigate the incident. The plant, which notified the agency about eight hours after the fire, could face penalties for violating the requirement to provide that notice within one hour, Hough said.

Plant manager Gary Hunt said Baxter needed time to assess the situation before notifying the agency. During the down period for the fume-capturing equipment, the plant took steps to reduce emissions, he added.

Handy and Ortiz said they want the plant's neighbors to have more influence in ensuring that the plant's LRAPA emissions permit is tied to safe operations. But Hough said the current permit process includes an effective public-participation component.

"We have a very open process for issuing or renewing permits," Hough said. "Neighbors are recognized as key stakeholders ... and have had a major influence on (best practices) negotiated for that facility."

Over a period of years, neighbors have battled Baxter, filing hundreds of odor complaints with LRAPA and urging the company to reduce fume emissions. In response, Baxter has implemented a string of costly upgrades to cut back on vapors.