Since the completion of the Big Pipe project in 2011, which stopped Portland’s sewage from spilling into the Willamette River during rainstorms, there’s been a movement led by Human Access Project to change the public’s perception about swimming in the ri ...
27 Aug 2014 - Emily Green
Each day Sean Morgan wakes up just as the light of morning creeps into view — a habit he picked up from years of working as a concrete finisher. He turns on his stove, boils water in a teakettle and then pours it into a French press with three scoops of g ...
25 Sep 2014 - Emily Green
The Clean Water Act of 1972 made it a lot harder for industrial facilities to dump large amounts of toxic materials into U.S. waterways with the institution of a permitting process with limits on toxic releases – it put a stop to many of the activities th ...
23 Oct 2014 - Emily Green
The Port of Portland wants to change the law so it can keep dumping dredge waste in West Hayden Island’s natural area off Oregon's Columbia River When the City of Portland pulled West Hayden Island from its list of lands to be developed over the next ...
22 May 2015 - Emily Green
The lifelong advocate talks climate change activism in this installment of Nothing More Hopeful Bonnie McKinlay arrives at my house a little out of breath, greets my dog, and apologizes for being late. She’s wearing a Norwegian wool sweater and a huge bac ...
5 Jun 2015 - Alice Hardesty
COMMENTARY | River industry, regulators favor a do-nothing method for Willamette cleanup In a March meeting hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to offer an update on the imminent Proposed Plan for the Willamette River Superfund, the word “c ...
13 Apr 2016 - Barbara Quinn
COMMENTARY | Relearning our own history will be the key to unlearning our mistakes The Willamette waterfront is many things to many people – a place to sleep, a food source, a wildlife habitat, a place to swim and for others, a place to dump industrial wa ...
9 Jun 2016 - Stephen Quirke
Residents have the power push the project in a more effective direction Threats to our health coming from the air and water have been exposed to the light of day. Agencies and leaders whose job it is to protect the community have been found to be lax in s ...
9 Jun 2016 - Barbara Quinn
This is no time for hand-wringing, finger-pointing and resignation over the horse that left the stable. We have to get back in our saddle. Maybe, finally, 2016 might be the year Portland creates real progress for the environment. The year has certainly pr ...
16 Jun 2016 - SR editorial board
COMMENTARY | EPA extends comment period on the Superfund cleanup plan for the Willamette River, which drew protests for doing too little Early this month the EPA released its draft plan to remove toxic contamination from the bottom of the Willamette River ...
30 Jun 2016 - Stephen Quirke