Protect Wasco County

Keep the Superfund Out of Wasco

Wasco County communities should not be asked to absorb the risks and impacts of cleaning up Portland Harbor.

Under the current cleanup approach, large volumes of contaminated sediment could be transported through or disposed of in Wasco County. EPA modeling envisions up to 200,000 truckloads over 13 years, averaging about 120 trucks per day during the four-month in-water dredging season. This scale of sustained heavy truck traffic would significantly alter daily conditions on rural roads and in nearby communities.

Air quality modeling presented to the Portland Harbor Collaborative estimates that long-haul trucking could generate up to 71,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the project, along with diesel particulate pollution linked to asthma, heart disease, and other serious health impacts. These emissions would be concentrated along transportation corridors and near homes, farms, and schools.

Public safety concerns are substantial. The Wasco County Landfill is accessed primarily via Highway 197 and Five Mile Road, routes that already carry significant truck traffic and include steep grades, limited sightlines, and high-speed intersections. Adding hundreds of heavy trucks per day to this network creates a foreseeable risk of accidents, road damage, and disruption to daily life for residents who live, work, and travel along these corridors.

Communities that did not create this pollution should not be turned into dumping grounds for Superfund waste or asked to accept long-term health and safety risks as part of Portland’s cleanup.