Blogtown, PDX

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Politics Ross Island: A-OK?

Posted by Scott Moore on Thu, Aug 9 at 5:30 PM

According to an initial environmental assessment by a Beaverton firm, Ross Island may not be the ecological wasteland many people feared.

The potential environmental clean-up costs left over from the island’s days of sand and gravel mining have been a major sticking point—the major sticking point—in negotiations between Robert Pamplin and the city for a takeover of the land. Critics of the “gift” from Dr. Pamplin suggested he was only trying to hand the island over so that he wouldn’t have to pay for hazardous waste clean-up.

scaled.rossislanddeer.JPG

But in their first phase of assessment, GRI Geotechnical & Environmental Consultants apparently found little to be worried about. “No obvious indications of adverse environmental conditions were observed during our site visit,” the firm states in an executive summary. “In our opinion, this assessment has revealed no evidence of recognized environmental conditions associated with the property, and no additional assessment is warranted.”

If the handover goes through, the city will likely turn Ross Island into a wildlife refuge.

I’d upload the report, but it’s too damn large. I’ll post a link to it if one becomes available. In the meantime, hit me up at smoore@portlandmercury.com if you want a copy.

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Comments

Those two animals in the photo are either deer or what look to be a pair of Boxer dogs.

Regardless, good news. Amazing site that Ross Island. How about condos?

Posted by MikeLovesYou | August 9, 2007 6:00 PM

Ha ha. They're deer. I snapped that photo with my crappy digital camera while out on the Duck Tour--hence the blurriness. But it was the only Ross Island photo I had.

Posted by Scott Moore | August 9, 2007 7:00 PM

How did deer get on the island?

Posted by Jonnyhotrod | August 10, 2007 1:23 AM

1) Who hired the firm?
2) Deer swim.
3) Last chance illegal summer campout next weekend, anyone?

Posted by martin | August 10, 2007 8:12 AM

The city hired the firm. According to the mayor's press release, "The Phase 1 report is a visual inspection that the City conducts during all prospective real estate negotiations."

And, for anyone who's interested in a canned quote from the mayor's office:

"This is very good news for the City and a huge step forward toward donation of Ross Island to the City by Dr. Pamplin," said Mayor Potter. "This clean bill of health for the proposed gift portion of Ross Island will allow us to move forward with the discussions necessary to finalize the donation."

Posted by Scott Moore | August 10, 2007 9:03 AM

I believe the issue is that in the [black] lagoon haz waste was dumped and maybe covered with other soils. That is still down there and it is obvious that ground water flows through the river [lagoon] bed picking up that haz.

The fantasy that migrating salmon rest in the lagoon on their upstream swim reported in the Trib is my guess completely made up.

Did the "consultants" do core samples in the "lagoon" to prove "harmless" the "sediments"?

Posted by whatshappening(really) | August 10, 2007 9:55 AM

Ok. But why would they want to swim to a polluted island?

Posted by jonnyhotrod | August 10, 2007 7:37 PM

Ok. But why would they want to swim to a polluted island?

Posted by jonnyhotrod | August 10, 2007 7:37 PM

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