‘Quarry represents unacceptable risk to environmental, economic future’ of Oakridge

In January, three Lane County commissioners made a decision that could haunt the Oakridge community for generations. Despite unanimous opposition from residents and their own planning commission’s recommendation to deny the project, Pat Farr, David Loveall and Ryan Ceniga voted 3-2 to tentatively approve the Old Hazeldell Quarry.

The vote wasn’t surprising – all three commissioners had received campaign contributions from Ed King, the quarry’s owner.

What should concern anyone downstream is what sits perilously close to the proposed operations: an abandoned landfill that operated as an unregulated dump from 1951 to 1968, during chemical-intensive timber operations. While the blasting zone maintains distance from the landfill, rock-crushing operations would run continuously just 25 feet from this toxic time capsule.

The “city of Oakridge” landfill operated when environmental regulations were minimal and industrial waste disposal practices far less stringent. For 17 years, while the Pope & Talbot sawmill churned out timber treated with chemicals now banned as carcinogens, the community burned and buried industrial waste in an untested disposal site. No one knows what’s buried there – exactly how the commissioners want to keep it.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s 2016 assessment paints a disturbing picture. According to DEQ: “It is not known what if any contamination exists at the landfill portion of the site. Likely contaminants would include petroleum related compounds, PCBs, solvent related compounds, dioxins/furans, heavy metals and possibly pesticides.”

The agency categorized the site as “medium priority” with “insufficient information to list” it for cleanup – effectively meaning it lacks data to prioritize remediation.

The quarry’s consultants declared the site safe because it’s “capped,” without testing what lies beneath.

This uncertainty becomes alarming considering Oakridge’s location at the Willamette River headwaters. A water well drilled half a mile downstream in 2018 already shows 5 to 8 parts per billion of chlorinated solvents – levels making water unsuitable for drinking and indicating contamination is migrating through groundwater even without quarry disturbance.

The proposed quarry plans twice monthly blasting, while rock-crushing equipment operates continuously just 25 feet from the untested landfill.

EPA studies on Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids show that vibrations from industrial equipment can affect subsurface conditions over time, potentially mobilizing contaminants through changes in soil structure and groundwater flow patterns. If operations disturb the landfill’s soil cap or alter groundwater flow, they could accelerate existing contamination, spreading it rapidly through the local groundwater system and affecting communities within the Middle Fork Willamette watershed.

Groundwater contamination from these sources typically takes decades to migrate significant distances, creating persistent pollution requiring expensive monitoring and remediation for generations. Combined with water system replacement costs, a contamination event could result in significant remediation costs, property devaluation and lost agricultural production, with ongoing expenses continuing for decades.

The human cost adds tragedy to an already troubling situation.

Those twice-monthly explosions will detonate yards from neighborhoods where military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder have sought rural Oregon’s peace to heal from service. Health care professionals documented serious concerns that blasting could trigger trauma symptoms in this vulnerable population.

Naomi Cotler, a registered nurse working with local veterans, testified that “noise from explosive blasts and traffic will increase or worsen symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, depression, and sleep disturbances in our community.”

The commissioners’ decision represents institutional corruption – actions technically legal but undermining public trust. All three “yes” votes came from commissioners receiving campaign contributions from the quarry’s owner, creating conflicts of interest that fundamentally compromise democracy.

As Oakridge City Administrator James Cleavenger observed: “LUBA (Land Use Board of Appeals) is not made up of elected positions, so they aren’t accepting campaign contributions from the applicants. So, hopefully we’ll be on an even playing field.”

The commissioners followed proper procedures but violated core governance principles: Those most affected should have the greatest voice and officials should protect constituents over private profits.

The contrast is stark – commissioners who likely applaud veterans at ceremonies voted to subject those same veterans to industrial explosions that could trigger the trauma symptoms they came to rural Oregon to escape.

EPA studies show remediation costs ranging from $100 to $300 per cubic yard, with some exceeding $1,000 per cubic yard. Many thermal remediation projects cost over $1 million, and chlorinated solvent sites require millions annually for decades, often without achieving complete remediation.

The National Research Council found most complex contaminated groundwater sites “will require many decades before cleanup will be achieved under current methods and standards.”

For Oakridge residents, hope rests with the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, where decisions aren’t influenced by campaign contributions. The medical principle “first, do no harm” applies here.

Until we know what’s buried in that landfill, the quarry represents an unacceptable risk to the environmental and economic future of the local community and downstream areas.

Unlike Erwin Schrödinger’s thought experiment – a hypothetical cat in a closed box may be considered both alive and dead while unobserved – once industrial blasting begins near this landfill, the consequences cannot be undone.