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We do have serious toxics problems in Portland. But, as a City, we're also being proactive. I was the City of Portland's Science, Fish and Wildlife Division Manager for more than six years. We did original research on how salmon, lampreys and other fish and wildlife use the Lower Willamette River. In doing so, we proved that we needed more stringent toxics source control and cleanup measures.

Portland also is pursuing a creative mitigation banking program to help put more money into restoration projects in Portland Harbor and less on lawyers and permits.

Portland also is working in partnership with tribal governments, the state and federal agencies to hold polluters accountable and to fix the City's own problems by virtually ending sewer overflows and building more stormwater facilities that use vegetation and other mechanisms to clean the rain before it reaches our rivers and streams.

Portland's leadership in responding to these challenges is helping create new expertise in environmental cleanup that will be helpful to city's across the nation. That means more jobs for Portlanders.

Finally, Portland is working hard to integrate its response to a variety of state and federal laws to ensure that every dollar we spend helps advance our response to multiple mandates.

We shouldn't be proud of our contaminated river but we I believe we can be proud of the City's work to be innovative and proactive in getting the contamination in the Portland Harbor and elsewhere cleaned up.

And, we need to be vigilant in preventing more contamination and in enforcing penalties against those who pollute. There's more work to do on that front.

Jim Middaugh

posted 5 years ago
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