November 2, 2009

More toxic waste must be removed from this Powell Butte Ranch,former owner Dennis Beetham and his company DB Western have 30 days to submit a plan before the US Environmental Protection Agency steps in, at his expense.

They ran into toxic trouble in 2006 when formaldehyde was dumped on the ranch. The Department of Environmental Quality discovered the problem  in August of 2007.

Since then nearly four thousand tons of hazardous and solid waste has been removed, but in the summer of 2008 federal authorities tell KOHD News Beetham stopped cooperating.
I spoke to Beetham and his lawyer who had no comment.
EPA officials have given Beetham and DB Western a month to resume the clean up.

"There's a bunch of different interim time lines that include things they have to do like get plans to us, tell us who their contractor is going to be and say that they are going to do it and are prepared to do it. I can then pull the trigger and say it's time to go out to the field and start the work which I am anticipating to be early December I hope," said Mike Boykin with the EPA.

If the EPA does the work it will cost Beetham over 400-thousand dollars.
The work that still needs to be done includes removing the remainder of hazardous waste and then investigating other areas of the property.

Beetham is also facing State and Federal criminal charges for alledegdly transporting the waste from other areas to his Powell Butte Ranch.
Neighbors in the area are angry over potential hazards.

"Based on the previous work that's been done, a lot of the waste has been removed, the stuff that was on the surface. So the risk to neighbors is reduced," said Boykin