Posted: Wednesday, July 8, 2009 12:00 am
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is inviting public comment on a proposed plan to protect people from contaminants at a development site on the north side of Lebanon off Highway 20 at Twin Oaks Drive.
Samaritan Health Services plans to build a complex that includes a medical college campus, commercial space, office space, research park, and a hotel and conference center on land that was used to grow ryegrass for several decades.
The pesticide dieldrin was used in the 1950s through the 1970s to control insects in the fields.
The use of dieldrin is now banned because it is a persistent chemical that can accumulate in the food chain.
In several areas, residual dieldrin remains in shallow soil at levels considered unsafe for occupational and residential use if people were to be exposed to direct contact with the contaminated soil or were to inhale the dust from the soil.
Dieldrin can be excavated and placed in areas where there will be very little human contact, such as beneath parking lots or buildings.
SHS plans to excavate contaminated soil and put it under concrete, asphalt, or clean soil in designated areas that will be identified on a deed restriction to ensure proper long-term management of the areas.
The cleanup will be completed in phases as new areas of the property are prepared for development. Each area will be identified on the deed restriction.
DEQ officials recommend approval of the plan. DEQ's report on the site and proposed cleanup is available for review electronically, by contacting project manager Bryn Thoms at 541-687-7424, or at thoms.bryn@deq.state.or.us.
The report may be viewed in person at the DEQ Eugene office by appointment, 165 E. Seventh Ave., Suite 100.
Comments on the proposed cleanup need to be received by July 31, and may be mailed to the Eugene office, faxed to 541-686-7551, or to Thoms.