What has been done to clean up the TCE contamination?
On December 19, 2002 the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality signed a consent decree with the landowners of the site as well as the Hall Street facility operators for obtaining 3.4 million dollars in order to begin a 30 year clean up plan that included pumping the well water through an air stripping unit which would then re-release the TCE into the air where it is to dissipate and photo degrade. The filtered water would then be discharged into Fanno Creek where it runs through Greenway Park. The TCE contamination of the air in Powell’s Bookstore in Cascade Plaza has been remedied by turning up the air conditioning in order to diffuse the TCE vapors wafting up from under the building. The monitoring wells around the TCE dumping area are monitored by the DEQ. Because the consent decree signed between the landowners and facility operators and the DEQ did not provide concerned citizens or the former employees any means of obtaining technical assistance for the purpose of monitoring
