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Oregon Cleanup Program: Priorities for Protecting Human Health and the Environment

The Oregon Cleanup Program aims to clean up contaminated properties to safeguard human health and the environment while facilitating their return to productive use. Key activities include making risk-based decisions, engaging in brownfield redevelopment, and collaborating with local governments and stakeholders. The program focuses on cost-efficient and protective remedies, emphasizing treatment or removal of hotspots. Challenges include stable funding and workforce transition planning, as a significant portion of staff are nearing retirement. Addressing these challenges is crucial for strong program sustainability.

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Oregon Cleanup Program: Priorities for Protecting Human Health and the Environment

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  1. Oregon Cleanup Program Top Priorities

  2. Goal: cleanup contaminated property so human health and the environment are protected and contaminated properties are returned to productive use

  3. Things We Do Well • Risk-based decisions with experienced cleanup staff • Brownfield redevelopment including PPAs • Collaborative work with local governments, state agencies, EPA, consultants, prospective purchasers, and responsible parties • Getting sites to NFA determination

  4. What does the state cleanup law require? • Standards for cleanup are “risk-based” cleanup levels given current and reasonably likely future land and water uses • Preference for treatment or removal of hot spots only • Preference for least cost protective remedy for contamination that is not a hot spot, often institutional or engineering controls

  5. Recent guidance • Risk-based decision making (look-up numbers) • Draft bioaccumulation guidance • All cleanup program guidance documents are available on-line at: http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/cleanup/guidelst.htm

  6. Prospective Purchaser Agreements • Tool DEQ uses to facilitate cleanup and reuse of contaminated property • Provides limits on purchaser’s environmental liability in exchange for “substantial public benefits” provided by the agreement • 90 PPAs have been completed

  7. No further action determinations (includes Conditional NFAs)

  8. Challenge 1: Stable funding • Decreasing Arlington fee revenue • Decreasing grant revenue • Higher operating costs • Emergency Response Program loss of General Fund ($400,000/year) • Declining HSRAF and OSA fund balances • Amount of cost recovery work varies • What size program can we afford?

  9. What are we doing to address challenge? • Reduction in program size by 17 FTE • Increase emphasis on cost recovery projects and meeting fiscal targets • Focus on high priority work • Limited orphan funds means emphasis on protecting human health e.g., drinking water

  10. Potential Governor’s Recommended Budget Requests • Orphan Site Account • Emergency Response • Emergency Preparedness

  11. Challenge 2: Transition Planning • 31% of DEQ’s workforce eligible to retire within 5 years • Experienced project managers are steady, pragmatic, effective, and valuable in making complex site cleanup decisions • We need to grow a new generation of environmental professionals – transferring knowledge and culture

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