Friends of the Columbia Gorge Press Release 
March 12, 2007 
Contact: Michael Lang, Conservation Director
 
At the request of the Yakama Indian Nation, Dr. Dan Jaffe of Northwest Air Quality, Inc. will present a report titled "Who is polluting the Columbia River Gorge?" to the Columbia River Gorge Commission on Tuesday.  The public presentation will be at the regularly scheduled Commission meeting on Tuesday March 13 at 10:30 a.m. at The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles Oregon.  The study is attached along with a statement from the Yakama Indian Nation.
 
The report is a "back trajectory" analysis of data gathered from the air pollution monitoring installation in Wishram Washington over a span of 12 years.  The report concludes that sources east of the Gorge clearly contribute to high fine particulate (PM) concentrations on the worst air quality days in the Gorge and are the dominant sources as compared to sources west of the Gorge or within the Gorge.  On days with air flow from east of the Gorge, nitrogen concentrations are significantly elevated, consistent with large NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) and NH3 (Ammonia) sources east of the Gorge.  These pollutants cause visibility impairment and acid precipitation in the Columbia River Gorge. The report concludes that air quality problems in the Gorge remain significant.
 
The report provides further confirmation that sources east of the Gorge substantially contribute to air pollution in the Gorge, which is designated as a National Scenic Area. Along with the "Cause of Haze in the Gorge" report, the 2005 acid deposition report and the "CALPUFF" model of PGE's Boardman coal-fired power plant, the Boardman PGE plant and the massive Threemile Canyon Dairy Farm in Boardman appear to be the most likely large sources contributing to air pollution in the Gorge.  PGE Boardman is the largest source of sulfur dioxide in Oregon and has no pollution controls for sulfur emissions.  The aging power plant's emissions are linked to air pollution that affects ten wilderness areas and national parks in the Northwest.
 
"The Columbia River Gorge is a natural scenic treasure that suffers from the some of the worst of air pollution in the Northwest," said Michael Lang, conservation Director with Friends of the Columbia Gorge.  "Scenic views are impaired 95% of the time, plant and animal habitat is being adversely affected and Native American cultural resources are threatened.  The latest report commissioned by the Yakama Indian Nation should be a wake up call to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and other regional air quality agencies to stop dragging their feet and to take steps to reduce air pollution in the Columbia Gorge." 
 
The DEQ, Washington State air quality agencies and the Gorge Commission are required by law to adopt a comprehensive air quality strategy to clean up air pollution in the Gorge.  Though the law was adopted by the Gorge Commission in 2000, no meaningful steps have been taken by the agencies to develop and implement a strategy.
 
Meanwhile, legislation is pending in the Oregon Legislature that would require the state to regulate large dairy farms, like Threemile Canyon Dairy farm in Boardman, in order to protect special areas of the state. Threemile has a reported 56,000 cows and is suspected of contributing to air pollution and acid rain in the Gorge.  Amendments to SB 235 would require the Environmental Quality Commission to adopt rules to address air pollution from large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), such as Threemile. SB 235 is the state's response to the petition filed by conservationists  challenging a state law exempting large agricultural sources of air pollution from regulation.  This provision of state law violates the the Clean Air Act.