Portland schools began the 2016-17 school year by shutting off drinking fountains and providing dispensed water to students. Turns out 99% of Portland schools had high levels of lead. If that weren’t bad enough, The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality suspected that Bullseye Glass was emitting dangerous levels of cadmium and arsenic months before the public was notified. Final testing showed arsenic levels 159 times higher than Oregon’s safety goal and cadmium levels 49 times higher.
Eight months lapsed between the time the Department of Environmental Quality learned about cadmium and arsenic hotspots in Portland and when they notified residents. Test results showed the average arsenic levels were 159 times higher than the state’s safety goal;…
The Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Health Authority failed to notify Cleveland High School for a month after they discovered arsenic at 6 times the state's safety guidelines and lead at 11 times the safe threshold.
A Portland neighborhood learned two companies had been polluting their air with toxic chemicals. Turns out DEQ had known about it for almost a year. Why did DEQ let these companies operate illegally, endangering Oregonians - and then hide it?