Four years after it shuttered – and almost nine months after being deemed a Superfund site- the J.H. Baxter wood treatment plant in Eugene is still well short of its “deep clean” phase.
For roughly 80 years, the facility processed countless telephone poles, railroad ties and other chemically-treated wood products, with mounting complaints of odors and contaminants from residents of the neighboring Bethel community. J.H. Baxter faced lawsuits, probes and multiple violations, and narrowly avoided being designated a Superfund site back in March 1993. When it closed the facility permanently in January 2022, the company said rising operating costs, market volatility and diminished margins were behind the decision.
Today, the plant is a barren shell of its former self: truck traffic has ceased, its tank farm is gone, and its workforce is down to one employee who runs the stormwater and groundwater treatment systems.
Anne Christopher is the Environmental Protection Agency’s remedial project manager for the J.H. Baxter Superfund site. Both the EPA and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality have done extensive dismantling and removal of old equipment, with many metal tanks being recycled and barrels of hazardous waste being shipped to a facility in Utah…