Bethel, Trainsong residents speak out against proposed fuel transloading site

Presenter: Nearby neighbors ask that the site for a proposed fuels transloading facility move further north, away from established neighborhoods. Speaking to the City Council Oct. 28:

Beverly Lewis: My name is Beverly Lewis. My husband and I bought our house in the Trainsong neighborhood in 1987. So we thank you for hearing us and withdrawing the zoning permitting decision for the USD Clean Fuels facility in our neighborhood…

Rachel Rainwater: Hello, my name is Rachel Rainwater, and I’ve been a resident of the Trainsong neighborhood for almost seven years. I’d like to continue to reiterate what my neighbors have been saying and thank the Eugene City Council for hearing us and withdrawing the zoning decision for the USD Clean Fuels facility…

[00:00:44] As a registered nurse, I’m committed to supporting health equity by addressing social determinants of health through social justice. I would like to ensure that people in my neighborhood are experiencing a reduction in toxic pollutants released into their environment and not adding to an existing problem. I believe the city of Eugene owes it to their residents to provide safe environments across all neighborhoods that promote health and reduce the negative impact to each individual’s social determinants of health.

[00:01:09] Mick Hornbeck: Hi. My name is Mick Hornbeck and I’ve been a resident of the Trainsong neighborhood for almost seven years. I’d like to thank the Eugene City Council for hearing us and withdrawing the zoning decision for the USD Clean Fuels facility in our neighborhood. Along with many other Trainsong residents I’m opposed to the Bethel Drive location for this facility, it would have a negative impact on every facet of our daily lives.

[00:01:31] This neighborhood is already contaminated from previous industrial practices which did not comply with health and safety standards. These volatile compounds are now our permanent bad neighbors in Trainsong and we’re saying no to more pollution.

[00:01:45] While not an exhaustive list, these are a few negative impacts: This facility will have 40 round-trip semi trucks daily on Bethel and Roosevelt Boulevard and will heavily impact current traffic use. Residents bike, walk, and commute on these streets. The existing school and city bus routes will be disrupted along with emergency response services. It could mean the difference between life and death in a critical situation. This facility risks large chemical events and nonreportable chemical spills, small or large, and can contribute to toxic waste leaching into the soil and groundwater.

[00:02:25] We’re concerned with what the result could be of mixing new pollutants with the existing chemical plume and other industry toxins currently in the soils and groundwater. There’s also a very real risk of explosions from the highly flammable materials at this facility. This poses a danger to neighboring residents in our Eugene community as a whole.

[00:02:42] The activities from this facility will have 40 semi trucks idling and delivering twice daily. This will contribute to the current noise pollution from the rail yard that we put up with and will create additional unwanted air pollution.

[00:02:53] People live here and this facility will impact our lives negatively.

[00:02:57] Facilities like this might need to exist, but a residential area is the wrong site for one. We shouldn’t have to risk our lives and our properties for it. So I ask the council. Has our neighborhood been reserved for industrial waste and disenfranchise socially excluded individuals. I’ll wait for the city’s answer in the form of a final decision on this facility.

[00:03:16] City of Eugene: Our next speaker is Anita Hollingsworth.

[00:03:17] Anita Hollingsworth: I can directly see where the new site is going to be put in. The house to my right just sold. A family with five children is going to go there. I met them this weekend.

[00:03:35] Can you imagine five little kids that might be blown up or poisoned or ran over, or whatever. I can’t see that, you know?

[00:03:49] I raised seven kids and, you know, I didn’t raise them all in Oregon. I raised four here and three in Arizona. But I always taught my kids to respect the earth. They’re of Native American heritage. They hunt for the elders in Siletz. They pay their elders back. We need to pay all of us back by supporting our lives. We matter. We pay our taxes, we pay everything, you know, that we’re supposed to. We work, we keep, you know, we try to keep our houses nice. I’ve lived there for 15 years. Never have I had a problem until now.

[00:04:33] Today, when I was coming home from some errands, I was coming down Bethel towards Wood and a semi truck with a load of steel to go to Schnitzer was coming the other way. I had to get over into the dirt and almost into the ditch along Bethel—and I drive a Ram pickup—because that truck took up so much of that lane.

[00:04:58] So I’m saying is: Is this road adequate enough to handle this much traffic? That’s one thing to think about. And the other thing is there’s pollution. There’s noise. We already have enough of that. So maybe the city could find a way to turn that into an electric vehicle charging station. You guys want to do if you get federal funds for that, try to implement it that way. Thank you.

[00:05:25] City of Eugene: Thank you, Anita. William Hidalgo.

[00:05:26] William Hidalgo: My name is William. I am a small business owner in the Trainsong neighborhood. And I also have concerns and speak for myself in my, first of all, thank you for withdrawing the zoning decision for the USD Clean Fuels facility. It’s very concerning to me that even the park in the neighborhood is still dealing with toxicity in the soils and that hasn’t even been remediated or cleaned up yet, and have another potential toxic site coming in. It’s very disheartening.

[00:06:00] And then I’d just like to reiterate some things that my neighbor, Mick, has said. There’s a real risk of explosions, which when last October, there was a random explosion in the rail yard from an unknown source. So I’ve seen fires and flames in that area. So that with having a fuel facility, it has jet fuel right across the street from, like Anita said, children playing, you know, less than like 150 feet.

[00:06:29] Zach Waddell: My name is Zach Waddell and I’m a homeowner in the Trainsong neighborhood. I’m here today on behalf of our neighborhood to stand against the proposed refueling station. While I understand the need for infrastructure, placing a high traffic fueling station in our residential area poses significant safety, environmental and quality of life risks.

[00:06:52] First, there are the health risks associated with increased emissions and possible fuel leaks, both of which could jeopardize air and water quality. Proximity to these hazards is particularly concerning for our children, families and seniors.

[00:07:10] Additionally, the increased traffic congestion and noise from operations would disrupt the peace and relative safety we currently enjoy. Lastly, studies show that nearby gas stations often lead to decreased property values. This change could financially impact many residents who have invested their livelihoods into our neighborhood.

[00:07:31] I urge you to consider alternative locations that prioritize community safety and preserve the quality of life for our residents.

[00:07:39] Michelle Messere Legg: Hi, my name is Michelle Messere and I live in Eugene, neighbors to one of the ladies that was here already, and about the house, about a year ago. I’m from North Carolina originally if you hear an accent, but I’ve been here 25 years so I’m an Oregonian and I echo all the things that my neighbors have said and there’s so many reasons that this could be a bad thing for our community

[00:08:01] I’m really concerned as to why it’s actually gotten to this point without anyone having had to address the fact that the zoning issue is the reason that it wasn’t brought to the council and it wasn’t brought to the voters and then that would mean that the Department of Land Use is the ones that had the ability to actually approve that which is scary to me because that would mean that they’re the ones that are in control and that we really don’t have any say.

[00:08:33] And I would like for somebody to look into the reason as to how something like this could get to this point without voter approval or any type of discussion other than that. And that’s one of the biggest points I wanted to bring up today.

[00:08:46] And the person or departments that are responsible for that, I think they have too much power and we need to readdress that as a community and see if we can have a little bit more checks and balances on that so that we don’t have to get to this position ’cause I have other things to worry about and I think we pay our tax dollars so that everybody that works for the city can do those things.

[00:09:09] And in doing this research, I found this city of Eugene environmental policy and I really read it and I don’t know that I had ever read it before and I just thought that would be pretty interesting to bring up some of these points. And it says that: ‘The city of Eugene is committed to protecting, preserving, and restoring the natural environment and that the decision-making will be guided by goals of increasing environmental benefits and reducing and eliminating negative environmental impacts in all aspects of the city’s activities,’ and that they’re going to ensure that each employee understands that and is trained and given the resources to implement those policies to reduce environmental impacts in all activities and operations, maintenance, construction, and prevent pollution, and consider their long-term and short-term environmental consequences.

[00:09:58] Erin Frank: My name is Erin Frank. Thank you for hearing us. I’m in the Trainsong neighborhood as well, and I want to thank you all for rescinding the zoning decision for the USD Clean Fuels facility in our neighborhood.

[00:10:12] You guys have heard a lot of the reasons why we don’t want it and I would just agree with all of them. Obviously, it’s a residential neighborhood and it seems like a really strange place to put something that has as much volatility as a fueling station has, so, like, they’re saying we’ve got kids in our neighborhood. It’s a small neighborhood and I don’t—I just would really appreciate if we could move this out of it. So yeah, we live here. Please keep our neighborhood safe and clean.

[00:10:47] Lin Woodrich (Active Bethel Community): My name’s Lin Woodrich. I’m the Active Bethel Community co-chair. I’ve lived in the Bethel area over 30 years. I’m speaking for the Active Bethel Community board.

Thank you for hearing us and withdrawing the zoning verification decision for the USD Clean Fuels facility in the Trainsong neighborhood. We understand that you have 90 days to review it, but we ask that you withdraw it permanently.

[00:11:09] The USD Clean Fuels Rail to Tanker Truck Transfer Facility proposed location in the already-burdened Trainsong neighborhood on Bethel Drive needs to move further north so that it can be accessed through an established industrial area away from residential areas. If there was an explosion at their proposed site, besides killing the residents, it could possibly take out the nearby Eugene Fire and Emergency Management Services Department and the Eugene Springfield Fire Station Number 2.

[00:11:36] These buildings include the office of the fire marshal and other key emergency personnel. It could also affect the city of Eugene Public Works facility on Roosevelt Avenue.

[00:11:46] Please hurry to finalize the public health development standards for at least the Bethel and Trainsong neighborhoods, so we won’t be saddled with another JH Baxter-type business in our area. Until the city manager provides you with a health overlay zone language to review, there’s nothing to act on.

[00:12:01] The public health development standards work can be achieved by modifications to our current city land use code based on the Eugene Clear Lake overlay zone and policies adopted by other cities.

[00:12:11] There’s an immediate need for the public health development standards for the Bethel and Trainsong areas, now included in our Bethel area planning. We need to get ahead of heavy industrial permit requests for the Westgate Industrial Park on North Danebo Avenue and possibly others that are in the pipeline that we’re unaware of.

[00:12:27] A few more things per local business owners that you can do now to help with some of the unhoused problems are to enact a no-panhandling ordinance for Eugene and to require metal recyclers to have a contractor’s license in order to turn in scrap wire and copper. And why aren’t you enforcing illegal camping codes on Highway 99 from Roosevelt to Beltline?

[00:12:48] Dharmika Henshel: I’m Dharmika Henshel. I’ve lived in Trainsong about 30 years. Again, thanks. I don’t know how it happened, but thank you for the zone verification withdrawal for the proposed USD Clean Fuels Facility. I would request, as Lin said, a permanent withdrawal and placement of such a facility outside of residential areas.

[00:13:08] I’d like to point out my understanding from a conversation with the Federal Railroad Administration, a person at the Department of Transportation Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is normally regulating hazardous materials on railroads.

However, with that conversation, it was made very clear to me that in this situation, they have a Hazardous Materials Rule 233, that they would not be regulating transloading in this situation because it would be a privately-leased track with exclusive use of USD Clean Fuels and it would become a fixed facility subject to the requirements of any new industrial facility.

[00:13:53] So I would hope you can find some applicable zoning laws and I don’t know that it fits the unzoned railroad situation because of that. I just think that’s really important.

[00:14:06] USD Clean Fuels said they would operate within the legal noise code, and my understanding in the noise code that engine noise is something that’s considered plainly audible, and I don’t know who would be monitoring trucks in the middle of the night.

[00:14:21] I know from experience with Zip-O-Laminators it’s very hard to get monitoring of those things and that there’s noises that fit within the noise code, but still wake people up. So it could definitely impact our quality of life and still be within the legal limits of that.

[00:14:39] And the last thing is I just think we should hopefully pass those public health development standards, the health overlay zones, so that these things don’t just keep getting thrown at our feet.

[00:14:50] City of Eugene: Susan Chamberlain.

[00:14:52] Susan Chamberlain: Thank you, City Council. Thank you for listening to us, then and now, and withdrawing the zoning permit. and I request that it’s permanently withdrawn. I’ve lived here for 37 years, and I own my home and raised my kids here, a bunch of kids here. And this is, Bethel Drive is our walk. It’s our block. It’s our only way to work. And we all have purchased property. And there’s so many new homeowners. And city of Eugene, please don’t undo all your good work, which is wonderful. Look at the emergency service hub, the fire marshal station, the EWEB maintenance building. All of these are key components to our infrastructure.

[00:15:53] We’ve got the transportation of the buses that go down Roosevelt, and we’ve got the parole board on the corner, the parole office, and all of this is wonderful and helpful. But if you interrupt all that with 40 trucks every night, it’s going to disrupt our lives in such a terrible, terrible way.

[00:16:23] And besides that, we have hot air inversion. Those standing trucks are going to increase our pollution like crazy. That hot air inversion mixed with forest fire smoke is not helpful to TrackTown USA. Believe me, it’s not.

[00:16:45] And Highway 99 is our road from the airport. Airfields are vitally important to our infrastructure. And the Four Corners is incredible. It’s everybody else’s way to work. And it is just taking too much out of our lives. And we’ve got too much pollution, and we deserve to live, and we deserve our homes.

[00:17:17] Robin Bloomgarden: Robin Bloomgarden. The primary reasons to support a public health development standard into land use planning. In October 2023, the Eugene City Council unanimously directed staff to develop public health development standards to protect public health based on the previous negative experiences of the Bethel community with JH Baxter, a wood-preserving facility that contaminated nearby homes with dioxins. When approved, staff stated a goal of presenting a policy to council in the summer of 2024.

[00:17:57] We are still waiting for this standard to become a reality in West Eugene. Frankly, it should eventually apply to all of Eugene. Most large polluters in Eugene are located in or near West Eugene neighborhoods. West Eugene has large sections of industrial land and freight rail lines near schools and parks with industrial corridors along Highway 99 and Roosevelt Boulevard.

[00:18:25] The Clear Lake Overlay Zone was adopted as a means to ensure future development fulfills the community’s desired outcomes for economic prosperity, increased employment opportunities while addressing environmental justice concerns, supporting policies that call for fairness and equity in achieving a healthy environment, vibrant community, and improved quality of life for surrounding neighborhoods.

[00:18:54] A new standard can protect West Eugene communities by banning the most toxic potential land uses, creating buffer zones between industrial facilities and residential park and school zones, building requirements into city code that requires an equity analysis and a health risk analysis.

[00:19:17] It’s clear that West Eugene neighborhoods can greatly benefit from a public health overlay zone now.

[00:19:25] Presenter: Trainsong residents share public comment Oct. 28 to remind the city that it has adopted a policy of ‘reducing and eliminating environmental impacts.’

Produced for KEPW 97.3 Whole Community News by John Q. Murray. Image courtesy Beyond Toxics.