DEQ Accomplishments
 

Major Accomplishments in 2005-07
 

Improving Oregon's Air Quality

• DEQ's governing board, the Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) adopted permanent rules for Oregon's Low Emission Vehicles program, which requires that new motor vehicles sold in Oregon meet California's vehicle emission standards beginning with model year 2009.

• New health benchmarks for the most significant air toxics in Oregon were adopted by the EQC. The benchmarks will serve as goals for DEQ to prioritize areas for air toxic reduction strategies.

• Under the Governor's Clean Diesel initiative, DEQ continues working to reduce diesel emissions through projects to provide diesel upgrades on garbage trucks, school buses, transit buses and construction equipment, and to reduce diesel idling emissions at truck stops and locomotive yards.

• DEQ helped successfully lobby the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce benzene levels in Pacific Northwest gasoline. EPA's original proposal would have left gasoline in the Northwest with twice the benzene content of gasoline on the East Coast.

• The EQC adopted rules to reduce mercury emissions from the PGE Boardman coal-fired power plant and any new coal-fired plants that locate in Oregon. The Oregon rules require a 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions - the largest reduction possible for western coal.

• DEQ is working with air quality advisory committees in La Grande, Pendleton, Klamath Falls and Lakeview to discuss local options to reduce pollution from woodstoves, open burning, diesel emission sources, and toxic emission sources.

Improving Oregon's Water Quality

• The EPA approved a significant number of Clean Water Plans and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) developed by DEQ, including plans for the Willamette, Umpqua, Tillamook, Tualatin, Columbia Slough, Walla Walla and Willow watersheds. These plans serve as blueprints for communities to reduce water pollution from sources such as mercury, bacteria, phosphorous, temperature and dissolved oxygen.

• DEQ's Drinking Water Source Protection Program provided assistance to 42 communities and public water providers.

• Over $100 million in low-interest loans were made by DEQ from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to help 40 public agencies and communities construct or upgrade facilities to manage wastewater.

• Five watersheds throughout the state implemented Pesticide Stewardship Partnerships (PSP) to improve water quality associated with pesticide use. The PSP approach uses local expertise in combination with water quality sampling and toxicology expertise provided by DEQ. Partnerships have been initiated in Hood River, Walla Walla, Pudding/Molalla, Clackamas, and Yamhill Watersheds.

• Seventy-four contaminated properties were cleaned up statewide through investigation and remediation by DEQ's Environmental Cleanup programs.

• Construction was completed on the McCormick and Baxter Superfund site, controlling pollution to the Willamette River. DEQ is working with approximately 70 property owners to eliminate sources of contamination to this area of the Willamette River.

• DEQ and the Governor have gained support and funding to clean up abandoned mines such as Black Butte Mine and Formosa Mine in western Oregon. The Western Governor's Association provided $60,000 for Black Butte Mine environmental studies in 2006, leading to $500,000 in EPA funding for cleanup work. Formosa Mine attained EPA Superfund listing, which will be instrumental in prioritizing federal action on this multi-million dollar cleanup.
   
• DEQ helped secure grant funds from EPA to help eight communities statewide establish permanent household hazardous waste collection facilities and co-sponsored two agriculture pesticide collection events in the Pudding River watershed (in 2006 and 2007) where a total of over 34,000 pounds of "legacy pesticides" (long-banned farm chemicals) were collected.