Skip to Main Content View Text-Only

The City of Portland, Oregon

Nick Fish (In Memoriam)

City of Portland Commissioner

phone: 503-823-3589

Email: nick@portlandoregon.gov

1221 S.W. 4th, Room 240, Portland, OR 97204

Press Release: New Lawsuit Seeks to Stall Progress on Willamette River Clean-Up and Shift Cost to Portland Taxpayers

July 15, 2019

Press release from the office of Commissioner Nick Fish:

New Lawsuit Seeks to Stall Progress on Willamette River Clean-Up
and Shift Cost to Portland Taxpayers

Late Friday afternoon, Portland law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP filed a lawsuit challenging the City’s recent actions to clean up the Portland Harbor Superfund Site, an 11-mile stretch of the Willamette River running through the heart of our community.

The claims are recycled from an earlier lawsuit brought against the City by the same firm – claims lost on the merits. The new lawsuit seeks additional taxpayer money to cover the firm’s fees, accounting costs and administrative services.

In Anderson v. City of Portland, Circuit Court Judge Bushong previously ruled that, “Determining whether water and sewer ratepayer dollars should be spent for various projects is a question presented in the first instance to the elected officials who serve on the City Council and manage the water and sewer funds. It is not the court’s role to second-guess or attempt to judge whether Council’s decision in any given situation constitutes a wise use of ratepayer dollars or sound public policy.”

Earlier this year, the State of Oregon and the City of Portland partnered to launch an innovative new approach to jump start clean-up of the river. The strategy both pools and caps the public agencies’ financial commitments for this phase of the work and offers greater certainty and significantly lower risk and cost. Together, the City and State are establishing a trust to hold up to $24 million to provide funding to parties that commit to making progress on clean-up.

“Not only is the trust a responsible approach for Portland ratepayers and taxpayers, it’s become a national model,” said Portland Commissioner Nick Fish, who oversees the City’s Bureau of Environmental Services. “During my tenure, we brought sewer and stormwater rates down to below the rate of inflation, while continuing to be a leader in the Willamette River clean-up. I’m disappointed that – again – Portlanders will be asked to foot the bill for an unfounded lawsuit.”

Michael Jordan, Director of BES added, “We are proud of our work on the Superfund, most notably our recent agreement with EPA which continues to explore the most efficient and cost-effective ways to address City liability and use public funds to clean up our river.”

Chief Deputy City Attorney Karen Moynahan, who will handle the case for the City, commented, “Despite transparent and clear communication from the City, I’m disappointed by the misrepresentation of facts in the lawsuit. The City won this case before and we’ll win it again – unfortunately, at a cost to the public.”

###

Media

City Sued Over Portland Harbor Superfund Site Cleanup Planning Efforts

Amelia Templeton in OPB News

 

Legality of Portland Harbor Cleanup Fund Challenged

Jim Redden in the Portland Tribune

 

Portland Sued Over Water and Sewer Spending

KATU News

 

Portland Faces Lawsuit Over Sewer Utility Spending

Gordon R. Friedman in the Oregonian