Activists fed up with Columbia River Gorge air pollution

PORTLAND – Cleaning up air pollution in the scenic Columbia River Gorge is proving to be tougher than expected, with questions about who really is in charge.

Conservation groups hinted at a commission meeting earlier this month that they are losing patience with a five-year joint cleanup project by the Columbia River Gorge Commission, the U.S. Forest Service, Oregon and Washington state.

The Washington Department of Ecology pulled out in 2003, and the air quality protection effort still faces Oregon budget cuts at a time when studies show air is becoming more polluted in parts of the gorge. Officials say the air has grown so dirty it’s sometimes impossible to make out rugged cliffs or the snowy tip of Mount Hood.

National parks and protected wilderness areas receive the most explicit and rigorous air quality protection under the Clean Air Act. Although some advocated the Columbia gorge as a national park, it was instead named a national scenic area without specific air safeguards.

The gorge commission has declared only that its air should be “protected and enhanced.”

But when it comes to details, nobody knows what the standard really means, the Oregonian newspaper reported Friday.

“What are we aiming for? That’s the question,” said Martha Bennett, executive director of the Columbia River Gorge Commission. “I don’t think Congress anticipated this issue.”

The vagueness of the wording for maintaining air quality poses key questions: How clean should gorge air be? Is it enough for people to be able to see a certain distance? Or should government agencies aim for a higher standard, such as avoiding damage to plants and animals?

The uncertainty about controlling air quality in the gorge comes at a time when the air itself is turning gray with pollution that causes smog and douses the area’s petroglyphs and plants with acid fog and rain.

Now Bennett and her staff are trying to figure out what air quality protection powers have been delegated to the gorge commission, which commonly deals with land-use matters such as the design and location of buildings.

Regulators say more study is needed to understand what’s soiling the gorge’s air, where it’s coming from and what can be done about it.

Activists, however, say they will use “the hammer of litigation” to force action if nothing is done soon.

“Every day we wait, the problem gets worse,” said Brent Foster, an attorney with Columbia Riverkeeper, a conservation group focused on protecting the Columbia River.