How much would you pay for peace of mind?
It’s a question worth asking after Lookout Eugene-Springfield reported that 1,400 gallons of J.H. Baxter & Co.’s hazardous wood-preserving chemicals were buried in a long-defunct landfill beneath Alton Baker Park more than 50 years ago.
The J.H. Baxter plant in west Eugene produced railroad ties, telephone poles and other specialized wood products for eight decades. But years of investigations revealed that toxic chemicals from the plant had seeped into the soil of some nearby residents’ yards, possibly contributing to elevated cancer levels in the neighborhood…