US Army Corps of Engineers ®

News Release

Portland, Ore. — Preliminary test results on power transmission system components retrieved from the Columbia River near the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Bonneville Lock and Dam indicate the presence of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

Contract divers from Advanced American Divers retrieved two capacitors, lightning arresters, ballasts, relays, and miscellaneous porcelain and metal pieces from the river near Bradford Island, just upstream of the Bonneville spillway. The materials were tested for asbestos and PCBs. While no asbestos was detected, PCB levels are above acceptable contamination levels.

Of six samples taken, five of solids and one of liquid, preliminary tests found that four contained PCBs. Under current regulations, electrical equipment with PCBs over 50 parts per million (ppm) is required to be disposed of in an approved facility in accordance with the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA).

Of those four samples, two contained amounts above that level. The first, a solid tarry substance from a ballast, tested 258 ppm of PCBs. An oily material from a damaged capacitor tested the highest with a PCB level of 200,000 ppm. While an extremely small amount of the oil was found, and the equipment had already been removed from the river, further tests are being considered that would help determine whether or not there is contamination in the river.

Electrical equipment remains on the river bottom. The bulk of the material remaining, however, appears to be lightning arresters which are not expected to contain high levels of PCBs. The arrrester sampled contained 2 ppm of PCBs. A dive is planned in the near future to retrieve all remaining materials, regardless of content, and attempt to sample any sediment that lies underneath by hand.

Following the divers discovery of the materials, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were notified and a waste disposal contractor, ONYX Environmental Services, was brought on board to test representative samples of the materials, and to dispose of them in accordance with hazardous waste requirements.

The Corps identified the landfill site as an area of concern during a routine internal environmental compliance inspection in 1996, and notified DEQ. A primary concern was migration of contaminants into the sediments or water of the Columbia River. Since then, DEQ and the Corps have worked together to identify appropriate ways to investigate the landfill and the water nearby.

A Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP) agreement signed in 1998 between DEQ and the Corps makes the two agencies partners in the investigation, and any necessary cleanup, of the landfill. The Corps has coordinated closely with DEQ during the investigation of the landfill.

The site investigation is continuing and a final evaluation report is expected in spring 2001. Remedial actions, if needed, will follow when the investigation is completed. The materials were found in the river adjacent to an old landfill site used by the Corps to dispose of household and project waste materials from 1942 until 1982. The site is in a part of Bradford Island that is not open to the public. It is forested and managed as wildlife habitat.