Field Trip Information

Each field trip is scheduled to return to the Doubletree Hotel no later than 1:00 p.m. Please plan your flights accordingly to arrive at the Portland Airport in a timely manner. For additional information on transportation to the airport, please see the Travel and Lodging link.

Tour of the Portland Wellfield and Cascade Corporation Ground Water Cleanup Site, Troutdale, Oregon

Attendees will participate in a tour of the Portland Wellfield and Cascade Corporation.  The first stop will be an overlook to provide a geologic context of the area and will be hosted by a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) representative.  This view shows extant landforms that hint at the magnitude of these ancient flood events and the flood's path in the present day Columbia River channel. Attendess then will arrive at the Cascade Corporation site, source of a volatile organic compound (VOC) plume affecting Portland's water supply aquifer.  A presentation will be provided on the site history, study, and ongoing ground water cleanup.  The pump and treat remedy has been supplemented by biowalls, and it appears that the site will meet cleanup objectives much sooner than originally anticipated.

After the tour, participants will be taken by bus to a wellhead in the city of Portland wellfield.  Participants will see how phytoremediation (poplars) is being used effectively.

Minimal walking is required for this field trip. An agenda of the trip is below.

Tour of Portland Harbor

Join EPA RPM's Eric Blischke, and Kristine Koch, Nez Pierce Tribal Representative Erin Madden, and NOAA Trustee Rob Neeley for a narrated tour of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site and adjoining areas. This boat tour is the best way to see a Superfund sediment site, including sources and affected sediments, and to understand the complexities involved with a multi-party and multi-million dollar investigation, extensive tribal engagement, natural resource damage issues, and an active public. A brief introduction to the site will be presented at the hotel from 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. Participants will leave the Doubletree by bus at 10 a.m to the dock for a 10:30 a.m. launch. The boat will stop at key locations for specific site features, RPM narrative, and Q&A. Specific features presented and discussed on the tour will include the history of site development, stormwater discharges and other source control issues, discussions of key exposure pathways to be evaluated in the baseline risk assessment, key contaminant sources, the McCormick and Baxter remedial action and restoration, early action cleanup areas, river dynamics, restoration opportunities, site boundary determination and potential disposal site locations. The boat will return to the dock at 12:30 p.m. and the bus will return to the Doubletree by 1:00 p.m.

Portland Harbor is a regionally significant sediment site with dozens of contaminants and hundreds of potentially responsible parties from various sources along the industrial waterfront, including Arkema, Schnitzer, Gasco, Port of Portland, Rhone Poulenc, Gunderson and Oregon Steel Mills. The site was added to the NPL in December 2000, and a Record of Decision is anticipated in 2010. Potentially responsible parties known as the Lower Willamette Group will finish the remedial investigation and baseline risk assessments this year. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality leads the upland source control effort at about 80 sites and EPA leads the in-water sediment investigation. Other state and federal agencies and six tribes assist EPA with project oversight. One in-water early action is complete and several others are in the planning stages.