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But environmental advocates outside the agency remain skeptical that work at the Superfund site in west Eugene will be able to go on without disruptions for long.
The Environmental Protection Agency has identified cleanup work at J.H. Baxter & Co. in west Eugene — one of the nation’s newest Superfund sites — as a priority to continue during the federal government shutdown.
Under its contingency plan, the EPA continues work “where a failure to maintain operations would pose an imminent threat to human life,” referring to risks from unchecked hazardous substances, pollution or contamination.
While work is set to continue, former EPA advisers who are now public health advocates worry that gaps could widen as the government shutdown stretches into its second week as of Wednesday, Oct. 8, delaying work even if it continues in some capacity.
Fewer than 1% of known toxic sites receive the level of federal attention that Superfund projects do, and the work demands coordination among agencies, stakeholders and experts to tackle some of the nation’s worst pollution.
J.H. Baxter, 3494 Roosevelt Blvd., has long troubled residents of the Bethel and Trainsong neighborhoods. For nearly eight decades, the company treated wood products such as utility poles with toxic chemicals that resist decay but persist in the environment, seeping into soil and groundwater.
The treatment process used tar-like creosote and waxy pentachlorophenol — both linked to cancer — and generated toxic byproducts such as dioxins, which are associated with cancer, reproductive harm and immune system damage.
When operations ceased in 2022, contamination was so severe that the EPA immediately launched short-term cleanup efforts to remove the most hazardous materials.
‘Worst of the worst’
Experts who have worked on Superfund projects across the country and who came to Eugene to work on J.H. Baxter told Lookout Eugene-Springfield it was among the most challenging sites they’d encountered. They said the facility had been mothballed — abruptly shut down with pipes still full of chemicals, as if it might resume operations.
Since last year, a removal team has been dismantling the large pressurized cylinders and tanks once used to treat wood with toxic chemicals, hauling the waste to EPA-approved disposal facilities.
Though billed as short-term, the cleanup became a chain of problems, as EPA coordinator Randy Nattis told nearly 100 people who gathered in July to learn about the newly designated Superfund site.
“As we’re doing the worst of the worst, of course, we’re still going to run into other issues,” he said. “As you can imagine, it’s old pipes, this contamination of sludge. This is why it’s a Superfund site.”
Over the next few months, outgoing crews will coordinate with incoming teams to plan sampling and testing of soil and groundwater over the winter, and the agency is preparing to award a contract for a detailed investigation and feasibility study for extended testing.
Potential complications
Awarding such a contract isn’t business as usual during a shutdown, said Marc Boom, a senior adviser with the nonprofit Environmental Protection Network — a group of more than 650 former EPA career staff and political appointees. Boom advised EPA policy leaders during the Biden administration.
“Most of the work is not done by EPA employees. It’s a contractor,” said Boom, laying out potential complications. “Does the contract expire? Do they need to reinitiate the contract? Contractors may not show up if they’re not getting paid, if they don’t have a contract. And under a typical shutdown, you wouldn’t be able to create a new contract.”
That’s because decisions often extend beyond those working directly on Superfund sites. Many of the staff needed to process or authorize contracts — including IT, HR and other administrative employees — could be furloughed, leaving fewer people to make decisions or manage day-to-day operations, Boom said.
So far, most EPA employees have been told they are exempt from the shutdown and should report to work, but they expect the agency could close as soon as this week, according to POLITICO.
Boom’s organization has also heard that EPA has begun furloughing employees as of Thursday, Oct. 9, initiating a plan that will lead to nearly 90% of its staff off the job. That could be as many as 15,000 people.
What disruptions may unfold for those who remain on the job remains to be seen. For Superfund projects, the impact may not be immediate but could ripple over time as each phase depends on the one before it.
“You won’t see an immediate impact,” Boom said. “It’s really challenging to figure that out.”
At J.H. Baxter, that ripple begins with a contract that kicks off an investigation and feasibility study. Once awarded, the study will guide next steps and help the EPA map a groundwater plume that may extend beyond the facility. Preliminary analysis has already found contamination in two nearby canals, which flows past the J.H. Baxter site and into Amazon Creek.
