Everyone in Oregon knows the Willamette River. They know it's important, they know it's polluted. Of course, it hasn't always been this way. When Lewis and Clark first rolled into Oregon, the river was a sight to see - salmon running so thick it looked as though you could walk on their backs from one side of the river to the other. The river isn't quite so beautiful anymore. Each year, millions of pounds of toxic chemicals are dumped into the river. Salmon don't swim head to tail, most of the species in the Willamette are now endangered. The fish that do survive are so filled with toxic chemicals that they're not safe to eat. It's not the river it used to be, we all know that - but there's a good chance most people don't know how bad it's become.

OSPIRG Executive Director Maureen Kirk has been influential in working with decision makers to clean up the Willamette River.

If people did know about the specifics, they'd be outraged. Think about this: the Willamette River is one of the most polluted rivers in the West, with millions of pounds of toxic chemicals released into its waters each year.

More facts about the problems with the Willamette and the dangers the toxins in the river hold:

• The contamination is so severe that swimming and fishing have been prohibited throughout much of the river.
• Pesticides, PCBs, dioxins, arsenic, and lead have been found in the river at levels that exceed EPA guidelines. These chemicals are known to cause cancer and birth defects and to harm salmon and wildlife even at very low levels.
• All 95 samples taken from the river in a U.S. Geological Survey study were contaminated with toxic chemicals. Atrazine, a known carcinogen, was found in 99% of the samples.
• The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) found that up to 50% of some species of fish captured at the Newberg Pool, upstream from Portland on the Willamette River, have skeletal deformities.
• Dioxin concentrations in the fish in the Willamette exceed Oregon's standards for cancer-risk exposure.
• Many of the river's wild salmon species are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Some of the most dangerous chemicals released each year into the Willamette River have serious health effects:

LEAD: At low exposures lead can cause brain damage, kidney damage, and damage to the reproductive system. For infants or young children, lead has been shown to decrease IQ scores, slow growth and development, and cause hearing problems.

ARSENIC: Arsenic is a deadly poison at high levels of exposure. Low levels of exposure can cause cancer, decreased production of red and white blood cells, and abnormal heart rates.

BENZENE: Long-term exposure can cause cancer, severe anemia, and internal bleeding. It can harm the immune system and cause genetic changes in both humans and animals.

DIOXIN: Dioxin is one of the most toxic man-made substances. It is a known carcinogen that can also cause reproductive damage and birth defects.

The Willamette River Needs An Advocate
This past election season OSPIRG worked to convince Oregon's gubernatorial candidates to adopt a strong plan to save the Willamette River. The eventual winner, now-Governor Kulongoski, developed a clean up plan included key components of OSPIRG's plan.

Now, OSPIRG is working to make sure that the Governor's plan sees the banks of the Willamette and other waterways across the state.

Special Interests Hamper Cleanups
This effort will not be easy. Both state and federal officials recognize the need to clean up the contamination in the Willamette. Yet after years of using the river as a sewer, polluting industries resist to taking responsibility for any cleanup. In fact, polluting industries are working hard to make sure that their pollution can continue and that taxpayers, not the polluters that caused the mess, clean up our toxic river. The DEQ and EPA identified nearly 70 "Potentially Responsible Parties" at the Portland Harbor Superfund site, including Texaco, Arco, the Port of Portland, Oregon Steel Mills, Georgia Pacific, Atofina, and Smurfit. Unfortunately, only 10 of them have agreed to share investigative costs with DEQ and EPA. Meanwhile, some of these industries continue to dump toxins at an alarming rate. Wah Chang Industries dumped over 1.6 million pounds of toxins into the Willamette in 1997, while Wacker Siltronic dumped nearly 1.3 million pounds of toxins that same year.

Despite having spent over $2.5 million in lobbying and campaign contributions in 1999-2000, the polluter lobby could not fool the 2001 legislature into passing a taxpayer bailout that would have given them tax breaks in exchange for their cleanup costs at the Portland Harbor Superfund site. However, industry efforts did succeed in derailing any real plan that could have ignited a wholesale river cleanup, and they continue to lobby the DEQ to weaken permit and enforcement standards. In addition, big business has convinced the Bush administration to oppose the reauthorization of the federal Superfund tax, meaning that polluters may no longer have to pay for their toxic messes. Instead, those costs will likely be passed on to the taxpaying public - if the cleanups are done at all.

The Clean Willamette Plan
Fortunately, the public doesn't need new laws to save the Willamette. All the river needs is someone to implement them. Oregon's governor can stand up to polluters and clean up the river by simply employing this three point plan:

• End toxic emissions into the river - each year, millions of pounds of new pollution legally enters the river. We need to curb pollution by reducing the amount each polluter can dump into our river. When the Clean Water Act was first passed in 1972, the goal was to reduce pollution entirely by 1985. We've missed that goal by eighteen years, but we can still use the Clean Water Act to rachet down the amount each polluter is allowed to release into the river.
• Increase enforcement of our clean water laws - the legal ceiling we've set for these polluters is far too high - we allow so much to be dumped into the river, that we must force polluters to follow the laws we have on the books. Polluters that break their permits and the law must be held accountable for the extra damage they've caused.
• Make polluters pay - from the cleanups of toxic messes, to environmental damage, to the cost of alerting the public about the dangers in their water, polluting is expensive. The problem is that polluters rarely have to foot the bill for the damage they cause everyday. If the cost of polluting actually reflected the damage it causes, polluters would pollute less and would take care to clean up any messes they did make. Our state legislature should stop using tax dollars to pay for pollution and instead have the industries pay for their own toxic messes.

After years of using the Willamette as a dumping ground, polluting industries are ducking responsibility for the cleanup. The Environmental Protection Agency has targeted 70 polluters at the Portland Harbor Superfund site, but only 10 have agreed to share cleanup costs. The others may try to shift the burden to taxpayers.

The governor has already committed to much of this platform - during his campaign he said this about clean water in Oregon:

Clean Water, Clean Air:

In 1999, nearly 60 percent of Oregon's drinking water violated basic drinking water protection standards at least once. Meanwhile, the Willamette River is choked with pollution; Portland Harbor is a Federal Superfund site. We need to take action.

And it is time to make the Willamette watershed a model of our reserve and resourcefulness. As Governor, I will personally take charge of the cleanup of the Willamette River and turn all the paperwork into results. Those results, and how we achieve them, will again announce to the country "look to Oregon." I am confident that some of the other specific [proposals] listed here - such as reducing toxic emissions, implementing the pesticide use reporting system, and emphasizing enforcement - will help lead the way to a Willamette River cleanup. [emphasis added]

With this commitment to cleaning up the Willamette, OSPIRG is confident that we are now on the right track to creating a cleaner Willamette River.

OSPIRG's Plan to Save the Willamette
The DEQ has not been fulfilling its duties under the Clean Water Act and the department seems to need strong pressure from above in order to make it happen. This is where Oregon's new governor comes in. In the 1970's Governor Tom McCall led the push to save the Willamette, to clean up the mess this time, Oregon will need Gov. Kulongoski to provide strong, McCall-like leadership to save our river in our generation. That is where OSPIRG's student chapters come in - as his term progresses, students will continue to campaign to convince Oregon's governor to implement his clean water plan.

From the campus perspective, students will take advantage of our natural assets as well as the current political situation to make the difference and sign on both candidates to our campaign.

Tactics the students will employ:

Gubernatorial advocacy - As the year progresses, students and staff will meet face-to-face with the governor and his policy staff to encourage them to implement their plan to save the river.

River Watch - In order to find out about the problems of the Willamette, more information needs to be gathered about the water quality in the river. OSPIRG chapters will gather this data through regular "streamwalking" along the Willamette and its tributaries.

River Cleanups - By organizing community cleanups, students will not only help to make the Willamette cleaner, but will also educate the public about the problems of the Willamette. River cleanups give OSPIRG chapters the chance to get community groups and political leaders directly involved in the effort to save the Willamette River.

Streamwalks - By testing water and mapping potential pollution sites, students can monitor the health of the river and its tributaries and report those results to state officials.

Education - OSPIRG chapters will educate the campus and community with campus forums, as well as educational workshops with elementary classes and community groups. Through service activities, educational forums, and media coverage, we will reach out to the public to inform them of current problems and encourage them to get involved in the solutions

Media - OSPIRG chapters will generate media throughout the term. Media will help to educate the public about water quality problems and show decision makers that OSPIRG chapters will work hard to make sure our clean water laws are enforced. The priority will be on grassroots media - letters to the editor and opinion editorials. Students will organize "Letter Days" each week to respond to events that happen in the gubernatorial race. Students and staff will draft longer opinion editorials, cosigned by VIPs and experts, and submit them to local, campus and statewide papers. Finally, students and staff will meet with editorial boards, encouraging papers to draft election-oriented editorials about Willamette River cleanup.

Educational Events and Forums - OSPIRG chapters will bring influential state leaders and pollution experts to campus to let students and the community know about the problems - and possible solutions - to the toxic mess that the Willamette River has become.