The Port of Portland says it's turning green and friendly,
but Port watchers haven't seen much change yet.
It's not surprising that the Port is looking to change
its environmental strategy--things have been looking
bad for the public agency. Over the past two years the
Port has been pouring money into meeting new DEQ limits
on the amount of plane de-icing material allowed to
run off into the the Columbia Slough. In the fall of
1997, it was sued for failing to meet environmental
regulations. In March of 1998, WW ran a story
outlining a string of environmental criticisms. That
fall, The Oregonian began hammering the agency
for dumping toxic sludge at Ross Island.
As if that's not bad enough, public officials at all
levels of government, it seems, have zeroed in on the
Port. In January, City Commissioner Erik Sten went public
with his irritation over the Port doing too little,
too late on environmental issues relating to the Columbia
Slough and Willamette River. The next month state Rep.
Randy Leonard began pushing legislation in Salem that
would force the Port to divert all de-icing material
to the city sewage system and eliminate flow controls
on the slough. The feds are considering a Superfund
listing for a five-mile stretch of the Willamette that
is bordered by Port property.
And then there are those pesky endangered fish.
How has the agency responded? With a new mission statement.
After a year of discussion, two weeks ago the Port rolled
out a revamped credo, adding seven words to its opening
line: "The mission of the Port of Portland is to provide
competitive cargo and passenger access to regional,
national and international markets in balance with
the region's environmental goals."
The new statement will be printed on all Port publications.
Still, given its track record, the new slogan is going
to be a hard sell.
"The Port does a really good job providing transportation
facilities," says Katie Tobie, the agency's new community
affairs manager. "That's what we've focused our energy
on for 100 years. But over the last two years we've
come to understand the way you do business is changing."
Mike Houck, an omnipresent environmentalist who works
on everything from urban wild space to salmon issues,
says he's surprised to hear about the new green sensibility,
because it hasn't been evident in his work with the
Port on their plans to develop West Hayden Island. "I
have seen no specific instances where there have been
any environmental improvements based on Port activities,"
he says. "But I am always willing to keep an open mind."
Houck says it's not impossible for an agency to turn
itself around, pointing out that 10 years ago the Bureau
of Environmental Services considered itself nothing
but a sewer district, and now it's creating wetlands.
Some Port watchers say there actually is some action
behind those words.
Jay Mower, director of the Columbia Slough Watershed
Council, has been watching the Port as it squirms under
the microscope of environmental regulation and public
opinion. He says that over the past few months things
have gotten better.
Port staffers are less likely to be defensive and more
likely to listen to input from the council or other
citizens, he says. For example, the Port recently proposed
replacing wetlands that were lost to development in
the Columbia Slough by creating new wetlands near the
Sandy River. While more wetlands are good for birds,
the Sandy is too far away to help the Slough watershed.
When the council denounced the plan, the Port dropped
it.
Mower and other people who deal with the Port credit
Tobie, the new manager of community affairs. Tobie,
who left the Port two years ago for the Oregon Department
of Transportation, returned in a staff shuffle following
the retirement of long-time spokesman Darrel Buttice.
The Port is making other moves to increase its green
image, some more substantiative than others:
* Bringing out the top brass. Port Executive Director
Mike Thorne, who has been noticeably uninvolved in public
relations on environmental issues, was in attendance
at a de-icing meeting on April 2. (Thorne has been traveling
in Asia and was unavailable for comment.)
* Hiring an environmental director. Within the next
few weeks the Port will hire a high-level manager who
will add an environmental sensibility to all management
decisions. If the Port is serious about becoming more
green, and if this person turns out to be an environmental
advocate, this could have a huge impact on how managers
and policy-makers approach decisions.
* Bringing on a hired gun. The Port is in the process
of hiring a consulting firm to advise it on how to incorporate
public involvement when making policy. Tobie says the
Port needs help learning how to bring the public in
at the beginning of projects, not two years too late
when everyone's angry, which is what it did during the
Marine Drive expansion last year. While this may seem
like window dressing, Portlanders are rabid about public
involvement.
* Hold general community forums where the public can
get information about all the Port's ongoing projects.
The first forum takes place from 6 to 8 pm Wednesday,
April 21, at 800 NE Oregon St.
Tobie claims the days of blindly expanding transportation
facilities to the detriment of all else are over. She
admits that it's a cultural shift for the massive institution,
which is not used to being forced to adapt because of
concerns over fish or frogs, but she says the directive
to be more green is coming from the top.
"You cannot simply produce a project in a vacuum anymore,"
she says. "You've got environmental issues and a community
focused on maintaining livability who feel a high ownership
of those environmental issues."
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Willamette Week | originally
published April 21,
1999
