Please join us in demanding a swift and thorough cleanup of the contamination at Bonneville Dam.
The Bradford Island Superfund site at Bonneville Dam is located in the Columbia River about three miles west of Cascade Locks, Oregon and about 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. For roughly 40 years, the Corps used the Bonneville Dam complex to support a variety of projects such as chemical storage, equipment storage, and waste disposal. These activities resulted in chemical pollution (i.e., contamination) across Bradford Island’s soil, groundwater, and in the sediment off its shore leading to a DO NOT EAT advisory for resident fish in the area.
People should be able to feed their families locally caught fish from the Columbia River without fear of exposure to contamination. The cleanup currently happening at Bradford Island is a huge step forward toward reducing the risk of exposure to contamination near Bonneville Dam, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Dear Senators Cantwell, Merkley, Murray, Wyden, and Representative Dexter, Representative Gluesenkamp Perez:
The Superfund site in the Columbia River at Bonneville Dam has been contaminated for decades, putting people who depend on catching fish in this area at risk of exposure to harmful contamination. People should be able to feed their families locally-caught fish from one of the most popular recreational fishing areas in the Mid-Columbia—but unfortunately, the resident fish that live at Bonneville Dam are too toxic to eat.
As a result of decades of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) dumping toxic pollution in and along the Columbia’s shorelines at Bradford Island—part of the Bonneville Dam complex—resident fish caught near Bonneville Dam contain some of the highest levels of cancer-causing PCBs in the country. This prompted the Washington and Oregon health departments to issue DO NOT EAT fish advisories for resident fish caught between Bonneville Dam and one mile upriver.
I ask you to urge the United States Army Corps of Engineers to continue progress on a swift and thorough cleanup of the Superfund site and to push for transparency and efficiency from the Corps in the ongoing clean up of the toxic legacy it left at Bonneville Dam. Each day that passes is another day that people who depend on catching local fish that is safe to eat are potentially exposed to harmful contamination. It is critical that the Corps maintains transparency about the process with Tribal partners and the public as the cleanup progresses.
Sincerely,