MILWAUKIE, Ore. (KOIN) — Even though it wasn’t on the official agenda, the Department of Environmental Quality permit renewal for Precision Castparts was discussed at Tuesday’s Milwaukie City Council meeting.A Facebook group urged “all concerned citizens” to appear at the 6 p.m. city council meeting to press the issue of whether to renew the permit for the Precision Castparts on SE Johnson Creek Boulevard.
“I want safety for my kids,” Sally Tez said. “I’m really concerned about living [here].”
As Southeast Portland residents work to understand the health effects of high levels of heavy metals in the air, some Milwaukie residents are concerned about Precision Castparts, a factory that “produces an almost 2 mile hot spot of arsenic and nickel.”
Precision Castparts’ DEQ permit renewal is reportedly up in a month. Nina DeConcini with the DEQ says the factory has already applied to renew it, and has even offered to voluntary implement what are being called additional control technologies.
But the DEQ says it won’t renew the current permit until new rules are laid out.
DeConcini and another DEQ employee took heat from angry residents at the meeting.
“The status quo has been: pollute first, ask questions later,” a concerned father said.
Residents pushed for the DEQ to announce exactly what chemicals Precision Castparts uses in its manufacturing, and whether or not they’re being exposed.
“I don’t have the exact list of all the chemicals,” DeConcini said. “But there are metals and other solvents used in their processes.”
KOIN 6 News has learned nickel was found in moss samples from 2013 that implicate Bullseye Glass, and Precision Castparts could be responsible.
The DEQ has yet to determine if there is a risk from the nickel deposits, but nickel can cause cancer. People who live nearby would like to see more testing.Precision Castparts was once named the worst polluter in the country, but the company fired back, saying the study was ‘deeply flawed.’Erin Brockovich involved in Portland air issues
Erin Brockovich, who first came to prominence investigating contaminated water in Hinkley, California, said she received more than 30 requests from people in Portland about the air quality issues.
She decided to help the residents close loopholes and get answers.
“First of all, it just frustrates the heck out of me because it’s a loophole and I just expect more from our agencies,” she said. “I clearly learned that they do it everywhere. We face this right now with the water system. We only test for lead in water every 4 years.”
She said she is planning to hold a community meeting sometime in the weeks ahead. For this issue, she’s partnered with the local law firm of Weitz and Luxenberg.
“I’m going to dig and dig until I can find that information and help them,” she told KOIN 6 News. “There’s nothing more important than our air and our water supply and it is directly linked to our health and our welfare and the health of children, who are our future.”