Professor presents odor results

Ted Eckmann, Assistant Professor at the University of Portland, presents the results of his odor analysis at a community meeting Monday.

(Fedor Zarkhin)

A $375,000 study has not yet found the source of odors in North Portland, and it found air pollution no higher than levels detected at another monitoring station nearby, state regulators reported on Monday.

Residents were not satisfied with the state's analysis or its responsiveness to their concerns.

"If I had a little kid I'd be afraid to let them out or to play outside," said Pam Allee, 70, at a community meeting in North Portland. "You guys gotta do a little bit more."

About 100 people attended the meeting with Oregon Department of Environmental Quality officials and lawmakers.

The monitoring that yielded the results was prompted by numerous odor complaints near Swan Island. House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, secured funding from the Oregon Legislature in 2014 to identify the source of the reported odors and to determine whether they carry with them toxic metals.

The air monitors found numerous compounds at levels above state safety benchmarks. But environmental quality officials said almost none was higher than at a Portland air monitor on North Roselawn Street, a few miles away from Swan Island.

Some at Monday's meeting cast doubt on the results. University of Portland assistant professor Ted Eckmann called the findings deeply flawed.

The environmental quality department compared one year of monitoring in North Portland to half a year in Roselawn, Eckmann said. Seasonal variations lead to different levels of compounds, rendering the comparison wrong.

"Nothing you see up here is statistically valid," Eckmann said, pointing to a graph of the results projected behind the panel of experts and policymakers.

At the same time, the monitoring data appeared to add fuel to some legislators' push to enact legislation that cuts diesel pollution in Oregon's air.

Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, is on a state work group dedicated to drafting legislation that would address diesel. He talked at the meeting about the dangers diesel poses to human health, as well as proposals under consideration by his work group.

Three bills tackling diesel were filed in 2015 - two by Dembrow and one by Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland - but none passed.

About 460 people in Oregon die prematurely because of diesel pollution, according to the Oregon Environmental Council.

The search for the source of the odors is ongoing, said Marcia Danab, a Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

503-294-7674; @fedorzarkhin