News Release
| Release Number: | 08-038 |
| Dated: | 3/17/2008 |
| Contact: | Scott Clemans, 503-808-4510 |
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today announced the results of tests that show high concentrations of contamination in smallmouth bass in the Columbia River, in the vicinity of Bradford Island, near Bonneville Dam.
Lab analysis of these samples showed high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyl in the tissue of 19 smallmouth bass. The average concentration was 3,000 parts per billion. These concentrations are well above what DEQ considers to be a safe level, about 1 part per billion. This risk is based on significant consumption of the fish over many years.
The Oregon Office of Environmental Public Health is currently reviewing the new data in order to make a determination about fish advisories for the Bradford Island area. Until that fish advisory is finalized, OEPH recommends that bass fishers and consumers refer to the fish advisory for Portland Harbor where similar levels of PCBs have been found in fish. Find this advisory at http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/envtox/fishconsumption.shtml#Portland.
Salmon and other fish species that migrate up rivers from the sea should not be at risk to PCB contamination.
The Corps collected the fish before using diver-operated suction hoses to remove the highest levels of PCBs from the river bottom near Bradford Island in October 2007. DEQ and the Corps will decide about monitoring PCB levels in fish and sediment in the river over the next several years to determine how much environmental improvement resulted from this dredging effort.
DEQ, the Corps and several other natural resource agencies and tribal representatives have been meeting on a regular basis over the past several years to work on investigation and cleanup of contamination on the island and in the river nearby. On March 26, this group will meet to discuss what measures to take in response to these test results.
The Corps has been working with DEQ since 1998 to address environmental problems on Bradford Island, which is within the Bonneville Dam facility. Various waste materials associated with operations at the dam were disposed of on the island between the 1940s and 1980s. In 2000, the Corps reported to DEQ that they discovered that electrical components had been dumped along the north bank of the island and some had entered the river. Some contained PCBs.
The Corps found the electrical components during their investigation of a landfill the Corps maintained on the eastern tip of Bradford Island. The Corps used the landfill for approximately 40 years until 1983 for the disposal of domestic and facility related wastes. Debris and electrical equipment in the river adjacent to the landfill are related to disposal activities at the landfill site. The Corps removed the electrical equipment from the river in 2000 and 2002.
PCBs were used as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment. Manufacture of PCBs stopped in the United States in 1977 because of evidence that PCBs build up in the environment and can result in harmful health effects to people and wildlife. The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that PCBs are probably carcinogenic to humans.
For more information about the Bradford Island cleanup, please visit the Portland District Web site at http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/issues/bradford/ or the DEQ Web site at http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/cu/nwr/bradford/.
For more information about the human health effects of PCBs, consult the public health assessment for Portland Harbor completed by Oregon's Environmental Health Assessment Program http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/shine/docs/PortlandHarborPHA032206.pdf.