Watchdog barks, firms listen

Environmental group goes after business to keep runoff clear

By Ben Jacklet

The Portland Tribune, Apr 13, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Mark Riskedahl paddles a kayak across the Columbia Slough to a drainage pipe in the bushes.

The outfall pipe drains the Northeast Portland property of Waste Management Inc., the leading waste hauler in North America. And the water around the pipe is a different color from the rest of the slough.

“We’ve been out here when the water here was so murky it was almost solid,” Riskedahl says.

Riskedahl, executive director of the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, recently filed 60-day warnings to sue Waste Management of Portland and nearby Roadmaster Inc. under the U.S. Clean Water Act. The complaints, the most recent for one of Portland’s most litigious environmental groups, allege that the two firms pollute the slough with untreated runoff water that contains heavy metals and E. coli.

Riskedahl said his goal is to negotiate a solution, not go to court.

“All we want is to prevent this pollution from going untreated into the Columbia Slough,” he said.

Dennis Jurries, a storm water engineer for the state Department of Environmental Quality, disputed the numbers cited in the group’s complaints. But he said the filings bring up “valid concerns” about the water that drains from the two properties into the slough.

Jurries credited Waste Management with “putting quite a bit of capital into fixing this issue.” The company plans to construct a new bioswale at its property at 5330 N.E. Skyport Way to soak up and break down storm water before it pollutes the waterway, Jurries said.

An ‘opportunity’

In a written statement, Waste Management officials said they “welcome this opportunity to work with the NEDC to resolve any concerns.”

Riskedahl praised Waste Management for taking a “proactive approach” and said he hoped Roadmaster would follow suit.

According to his group’s complaint, the Roadmaster plant at 5602 N.E. Skyport Way, where the firm builds tow bars and other accessories for recreational vehicles, has discharged untreated storm water into the slough without the required permit for years.

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