'Game Changer' - Bradford Island at Bonneville Dam declared Superfund Site
From Columbia Riverkeeper:
Despite the U.S. Army Corps’ resistance to Superfund listing, Biden administration holding federal agency accountable for languishing cleanup
September 8, 2021 (Bonneville, WA)—Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to add a large section of the Columbia River and Bradford Island, located near Bonneville Dam, to the nation’s toxic cleanup program, the Superfund List.
“This is a game changer. Superfund listing will kickstart a cleanup of this forgotten waste dump. We applaud the Biden administration and EPA for standing up for the people harmed by toxic waste,” said Lauren Goldberg, legal and program director with Columbia Riverkeeper.
For over 40 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) dumped toxic pollution in and along the Columbia River at Bradford Island. EPA’s Superfund-listing announcement comes on the heels of request by Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici to end to the stalled-out cleanup on the Columbia River. In a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Members of Congress expressed “strong support” for Superfund listing.
"The timing is critical. Adding the Bradford Island site to the national Superfund list will add structure and an enforceable schedule with milestones which are desperately needed," said Rose Longoria, regional Superfund project manager with Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation (Yakama Nation).
Bradford Island and surrounding waters are a historical Tribal fishing area. Today, Tribal people and diverse communities use the area for subsistence and recreational fishing, despite advisories warning not to eat resident fish such as bass and sturgeon. In fact, resident fish caught near the island contain the highest levels of cancer-causing PCBs in the Northwest. The Oregon Health Authority and Washington Department of Health issued fish advisories warning people not to eat resident fish caught near Bradford Island.
PCB chemicals were banned in the U.S. in 1979 because these chemicals harm human and environmental health. From the 1920s until their ban, an estimated 1.5 billion pounds of PCBs were made for things such as microscope oils, electrical insulators, capacitors, and electric appliances such as television sets or refrigerators. PCBs were also sprayed on dirt roads to keep the dust down prior to knowing some of the unintended consequences from widespread use, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Every year, EPA selects new sites for the nation’s “worst-of-the-worst” Superfund List and, through a listing, opens the gates to additional funding, heightened scrutiny, and tighter legal controls to reduce threats to public health and the environment.
Now that EPA has approved a Superfund listing, the decision will proceed through a rulemaking process in 2021, which will include an opportunity for public comment, and an ultimate listing decision by EPA in 2022.
Earlier this year Yakama Nation, the Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality, and the Washington Dept. of Ecology reaffirmed a 2019 request for EPA to add Bradford Island and surrounding waters to the Superfund list based on years of stalled and inadequate cleanup by the Corps.
Despite the significant contamination, under the Trump administration, the Corps slashed funding for Bradford Island cleanup. In August 2020, EPA failed to nominate the site for Superfund listing.
