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August 21, 2024
PORTLAND, Ore.— The Environmental Health Assessment Program (EHAP) at Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has published a final health consultation report for the J.H. Baxter & Co. site in Eugene.
The health consultation report outlines OHA’s analysis of community health risks related to industrial pollution caused by J.H. Baxter, a now-closed wood treatment facility in Eugene. The final draft of the report is available here. https://sharedsystems.dhsoha.state.or.us/DHSForms/Served/le-657751.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
The final health consultation incorporates comments received from 13 community members, collected from March to June 2023. All public comments are available here.
OHA evaluated all comments and responded to common themes. The responses can be found in Appendix E of the document. Some comments resulted in changes to final conclusions and recommendations.
Based on public comment, OHA:
Revised Conclusion 2 to describe the residential area near J.H. Baxter impacted by contamination in more detail.
Added a new Conclusion 3 stating what agencies do and do not know about the extent of contamination in residential yards.
Added information about contamination at the Trainsong Park site (including a website link to a separate report).
Added a new Appendix F providing an evaluation of dioxin exposure through breathing air contaminated from Baxter.
Strengthened recommendations about washing home-grown produce before eating.
Added new sampling data that were not available when OHA released the draft version of the report. For example, new environmental data published in 2023 showed that a total of 11 residential yards had dioxin levels above 40 parts per trillion (ppt), four more than what was reported in the public comment draft.
OHA will continue working with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as these agencies remove contamination from the J.H. Baxter property and perform more sampling in the affected residential area. OHA may evaluate additional public health risks if samples are taken from new areas where people could come into contact with them.
EPA believes the J.H. Baxter site is eligible for inclusion on the National Priority List for contaminated site cleanup, also known as the Superfund site list. As part of that process, EPA requested – and, in July 2024, Gov. Tina Kotek agreed – that the federal agency list the site.
For more information, visit EHAP’s J.H. Baxter page. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/HEALTHYENVIRONMENTS/TRACKINGASSESSMENT/ENVIRONMENTALHEALTHASSESSMENT/Pages/bxsite.aspx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
News release provided to ABC by:
David Farrer
Toxicologist
OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY
Public Health Division
Environmental Public Health Section
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