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Testing of 15 additional properties is likely to happen in late November. Regulators have already sampled 62 homes since 2022. Any cleanup based on the new results is at least two years away.
The Environmental Protection Agency has notified more people living near the J.H. Baxter Superfund site in West Eugene that it plans to sample their properties for contamination.
The agency scheduled testing toward the end of November and contacted 11 residential and four business property owners, spokesperson Alice Corcoran confirmed with Lookout Eugene-Springfield. Corcoran did not disclose the location.
About 10,000 people live within a mile of the J.H. Baxter & Co. site at 3494 Roosevelt Blvd. in Eugene. The company treated wood products like telephone poles with toxic chemicals including pentachlorophenol, which contains cancer-linked dioxins.
Although state and local authorities have sampled residential properties before, this is the first time the EPA has tested residential properties since the agency listed J.H. Baxter as Superfund site last year.
J.H. Baxter shut down in 2022. Since then, regulators have sampled 62 residential properties, when the state Department of Environmental Quality and the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency were investigating complaints and violations of the facility’s air and water permits.
In 2024, an Oregon Health Authority consultation concluded 11 residences had elevated dioxin concentrations that met a threshold that it had identified for prioritizing yard cleanup.
The state selected seven properties to clean up, with at least one of those homeowners still waiting for support in getting dioxins removed from her yard.
The state says the EPA is the government agency now handling offsite contamination. And while the federal testing is scheduled to begin later in this month, cleanup based on the results won’t begin for at least two more years, EPA officials including Corcoran have told Lookout previously.
A 3,000-page preliminary assessment prepared for the agency by a consultant maps 15 miles of surface water downstream of J.H. Baxter. It also shows how drainage channels next to the facility converge into Amazon Creek at Meadowlark Prairie. The assessment states in its conclusion:
“Analytical results of samples collected indicate contamination on the facility property, in the residential neighborhood to the north, and within downstream sediment and surface waters.”
The EPA has repeatedly declined Lookout’s requests for interviews about the assessment, with Corcoran stating it was “premature to discuss.”
Two distinct Superfund processes are happening in tandem at J.H. Baxter. One is the long-term remedial actions, which includes the offsite sampling. The other is a time-sensitive removal action, which addresses contamination that poses an immediate threat to human health or the environment.
Crews began a second round of removal work in October. As of Monday, Nov. 9, the EPA had removed 3,710 cubic yards of soil and 21,900 gallons of water from the facility. That’s enough to cover the football field at Autzen Stadium nearly 2 feet deep.
None of it has been shipped off-site for disposal yet. It is being stored and managed on site for now. Crews are contracted to continue working at the site for nearly a year.
