City of Portland workers are in the midst of performing the most substantial upgrades to the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant within the past 50 years, the Bureau of Environmental Services touted.

The Secondary Treatment Expansion Program (STEP) involves replacement of exhausted equipment and buildings, addition of seismic resilience to key portions of the plant, and other work to protect water quality. The total investment is expected to be more than $400 million, according to BES.

“Every Portland resident, business and visitor depends on the treatment plant operating continuously every day, throughout the year, and through all weather conditions,” Commissioner Mingus Mapps stated. “These upgrades will help continue reliable service that protects our environment, public health and worker safety. I am pleased that these improvements will protect ratepayer investments by maintaining reliability and increasing efficiency.”

Key projects within STEP include: deconstruction of aging equipment and buildings (with more than 90 percent of construction waste recycled); construction of two new, seismically reinforced clarifiers; construction of a new, seismically resilient solids handling building; restoration and cleaning of eight aeration basins; and construction of a new office building with a maintenance shop (at Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold standards).

BES is working with its contractors to encourage and cultivate a more diverse workforce in the construction trades. The bureau’s project manager for STEP is a woman, and the program itself is the first in the city with a project-specific Community Benefits Agreement – a contractual strategy intended to increase workforce and contracting diversity.

Also, STEP is implementing use of the  (Respect, Inclusion, Safety and Equity in the construction trades) program to provide workers with the tools and support necessary to create and maintain a safe, inclusive, and productive environment for everyone. BES, its contractor, community members and tradespeople meet monthly to review data and provide advice on the employment of women and people of color in apprenticeships and other roles, and discuss other participation opportunities as STEP progresses.

Complete construction of STEP projects is expected to wrap up in 2024.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Boise Cascade says it may close a plywood mill in eastern Oregon at the end of the year and lay off all the 229 people who work there.

“We haven’t made a definite decision yet to curtail (production) at the facility, but we wanted to give the (regulatory) notice to our employees that it is a likely possibility,” spokeswoman Lisa Chapman wrote in an email Tuesday.

Wildfires have limited access to timber for the Elgin mill, according to Chapman, but she said the main factor threatening the plant is a restrictive order from the state Department of Environmental Quality regarding contamination in the plant’s wastewater.

Boise Cascade received a state water quality permit in 2018, according to Chapman, but she said the state issued an order this past April to restrict water use because of dioxin contaminants.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Boise Cascade has filed a lawsuit to overturn the order and Chapman said the company is having ongoing conversation with regulators.

Harry Esteve, communications manager for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said the department sought to place limits on Boise Cascade after learning of contaminants in the water that originated at the company’s landfill.

“DEQ is working diligently and in good faith toward a settlement,” Esteve said.

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