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by Taylor Griggs

For 75 years, Ross Island Sand & Gravel mined the bottom of the Willamette River, significantly altered the habitat of the river near Ross Island. The company ceased mining there in 2001, but the environmental impacts of the company’s extraction still linger. Now, Ross Island Sand & Gravel faces a state mandate to help restore and reclaim the site. 

The ramifications of the company’s mining activities in the Ross Island lagoon have had downstream consequences for the Willamette River’s habitability to endangered fish species and people who want to recreate in the water. But the company, part of the R.B. Pamplin Corporation, hasn’t always fulfilled its obligations at Ross Island. 

Newly proposed rules by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) aim to hold Ross Island Sand & Gravel accountable as it completes the reclamation plan’s requirements. The clean-up could make it easier to combat toxic algal blooms in the Willamette River. 

Last month, the DEQ released its proposal for a revised water quality certification for Ross Island Sand & Gravel, which contains requirements that the company implement new measures to monitor and manage the algal blooms that proliferate in the lagoon. 

The revised proposal follows a 2023 lawsuit filed against the DEQ by the Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC). The lawsuit alleged the DEQ violated the Clean Water Act by issuing a water quality certification to Ross Island Sand & Gravel that “fail[ed] to ensure the water quality in the Willamette River will be maintained during the reclamation activities.” 

The revised water quality certification, developed under the terms of a settlement agreement between NEDC and the DEQ, would require Ross Island Sand & Gravel to conduct biweekly water testing for things like harmful algae bloom/cyanobacteria. If the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) issues an advisory about the presence of cyanobacteria, the company will be required to mechanically skim the algal bloom from the surface of the lagoon until it’s no longer present. 

The OHA issued such an advisory in 2023, and in many recent summers before that, as hotter, drier summers have made harmful algae blooms more common. Whether the required skimming would take place is unclear, and could be the subject of future lawsuits. Ross Island Sand & Gravel has already failed to make sufficient progress on its required reclamation work. The company’s parent company, R.B. Pamplin Corp., has faced financial struggles in recent years. R.B. Pamplin Corp. also owned Pamplin Media Group until it was sold earlier this year.

The new requirements for Ross Island Sand & Gravel wouldn’t change the larger reasons the algae blooms are more frequent, but advocates for Willamette River water quality say it’s a good start. 

“This is a significant victory for all Willamette users–human and non-human,” said NEDC staff attorney Mary Stites in an October press release. “This new certification not only requires Ross Island to respond to conditions that are harmful to water quality, but it also tees up a period of information gathering that will help inform the long-term reclamation and management of the Ross Island Lagoon Complex.” 

The reclamation, and the DEQ’s newly proposed requirements, are part of a larger effort to make the Willamette River near Portland healthier.

Willie Levenson, founder of the Portland organization Human Access Project (HAP), has been leading a project to build a channel through the Ross Island lagoon. The channel would allow fresh water to flow into the lagoon, breaking up the bacteria that causes harmful algae blooms. That project is a ways away, and it will be a heavy financial lift. Levenson says the information gathered from Ross Island Sand & Gravel, according to the terms of the revised water quality certification, would be helpful to those involved in the channel project. 

Levenson also expressed gratitude to NEDC for taking on the lawsuit, pro bono, and fighting for water quality in the Willamette River. 

“Suddenly, there’s a body responsible for doing the testing, a body responsible for paying for it,” Levenson told the Mercury. “This could very well be a short-term solution until the channel comes in. But it only buys us time through the end of the reclamation plan period.” 

Ross Island Sand & Gravel is required to complete its removal-fill project in the lagoon by 2033. Levenson says “if shovels get in the ground [for the channel project] by 2030, it will be a major win.” 

The DEQ is accepting public comments on the proposed revision to the water quality certification through 5pm Friday, November 29.

“This is an opportunity to let DEQ know they’re doing the right thing,”  Levenson says. “It’s a chance to let them know that the public is paying attention to and cares about this.”