Cleaner Air Oregon broadens pollution assessments beyond a business’ equipment and emissions.
“With the amount of scientific evidence connecting environmental quality and health, state air quality programs must add public health considerations in regulating certain classes of industrial air emissions,” Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement.
Brown announced the new program Wednesday, as the Environmental Quality Commission, which oversees the Department of Environmental Quality, appointed an interim DEQ director. The agency’s last leader, Dick Pedersen, resigned amid controversy last month after elevated levels of cadmium and arsenic were discovered in North and Southeast Portland. Two area glass-makers, Uroboros Glass and Bullseye Glass Co., have since stopped using certain chemicals in their processes.
(READ MORE: Portland Business Journal)
