Two Portland glass companies that use hexavalent chromium, a carcinogenic metal made famous by a Julia Roberts movie, have agreed to stop at the request of Oregon environmental regulators.

But while one agreed to a state plea to stop using all chromium compounds in its stained glass manufacturing, the other refused. Bullseye Glass Co. in Southeast Portland told the state it will continue using another type, trivalent chromium, said Nina DeConcini, an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality regional administrator.

DeConcini said the state is concerned because it is possible for trivalent chromium as a raw ingredient to result in hexavalent chromium emissions.

Uroboros Glass in North Portland has voluntarily stopped using all chromium compounds, she said.

Bullseye's refusal leaves the state uncertain of its next steps. State regulators do not believe they have the legal authority to force the company to stop using all chromium, DeConcini said.

The announcement amplified already high community alarm about Portland's dirty air, coming just hours after Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley called the situation a public health emergency and sought intervention from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The U.S. Forest Service first alerted Oregon environmental regulators in May 2015 that it had detected high levels of heavy metals in a study of Portland-area tree moss. The state agency didn't start air testing to confirm the moss data until October.

Officials received the results on Jan. 20, showing average arsenic levels 159 times higher than the state's safety goal in Southeast Portland; cadmium levels were 49 times higher. That monitoring detected chromium emissions, but state regulators didn't dig further until neighbors pressed them at a raucous Tuesday night community meeting in Portland.

At a hastily called news conference late Friday, the state's first since disclosing the problem Feb. 3, DeConcini said state environmental regulators learned the companies were using compounds that contained hexavalent chromium by reviewing safety information the companies keep.

State officials said they did not know what the health implications were for nearby residents.

The state has focused on two types of chromium: Trivalent and hexavalent. While trivalent is an essential nutrient found in the human body, hexavalent chromium is especially dangerous. Inhaling it increases the chance of getting lung cancer. Chronic exposure can also cause bronchitis, pneumonia and other lung problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In the unlikely case that all the chromium detected during October air monitoring near Bullseye Glass was hexavalent chromium, the nearby cancer risk could be as high as 1 case in every 1,000 people, said David Farrer, an Oregon Health Authority toxicologist. State safety goals, which aren't legally enforceable, aim to have air so clean that only 1 person in every million would get cancer from breathing it for a lifetime.

Hexavalent chromium was featured in the movie Erin Brockovich, about water pollution in the community of Hinkley, Calif.

Oregon National Guard soldiers also sued a defense contractor alleging they were exposed to the chemical during the Iraq war.

State environmental regulators said they have begun monitoring the air and soil in Southeast Portland and are preparing similar plans for North Portland. The state doesn't expect results until early March.

DeConcini said her agency does not yet know how many other Oregon companies are using hexavalent chromium and venting it to the air without filtration, as happened at the stained glass studios.

She said the state threw together the late Friday press conference because it had been waiting to hear whether the two companies would voluntarily stop using chromium. The state has no legal authority to order them to stop, she said.

Friday's disclosures won't be the last about metal hot spots in Portland's air. DeConcini said the state Department of Environmental Quality is looking at other metal compounds, including nickel. The agency has not released maps showing what neighborhoods may be affected by them.

Neighbors who live nearby Bullseye Glass said they were alarmed and outraged.

"This is unreal," Susan Beal, a nearby resident, wrote on a Facebook page neighbors have organized. "They should be ashamed, and then prosecuted for wilfully endangering so many people's health."

A woman who answered the phone at Bullseye Glass declined to comment. Owner Daniel Schwoerer could not be reached for comment.

Lorna Lovell, wife of the Uroboros glass founder, Eric Lovell, confirmed Friday evening that the company has stopped using chromium and cadmium in its manufacturing process. Eric Lovell said earlier that the company had not used arsenic in decades because of its toxicity.

Lorna Lovell is among about 30 people who work there. She's in charge of computers. She said some employees have retired from Uroboros Glass after working there for 15, 18 or 20 years. She said everyone was healthy and dispelled a rumor that the company had laid off its employees.



She declined to comment further about the use of the metals.



"We've been advised to not comment anymore on what we're doing on this matter," she said.



She said the small North Portland company has been going through a trying time.



"It's just heart-wrenching," she said. "But we will move forward with pride and grace."

-- Rob Davis

-- Lynne Terry contributed to this report