OPB: Northwest states and tribes call for superfund listing at Bradford Island

Bradford Island sits alongside Bonneville Dam in the middle of the Columbia River.

Courtesy of Columbia Riverkeeper via OPB

The Yakama Nation and the states of Oregon and Washington are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to declare a new Superfund site on the Columbia River at Bradford Island alongside Bonneville Dam.

The federal government used Bradford Island as a dump site for decades. It hosted a landfill as well as discarded hydroelectric equipment containing the toxic pollutant polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB.

Now, the site is so contaminated with pollutants that many of the fish living in the area are too toxic to eat. Fish advisories warn people not to eat the fish because of health risks, but the area is still used for tribal and recreational fishing.

Read the rest of the article by OPB here: https://www.opb.org/news/article/washington-oregon-tribes-superfund-listing-request-bradford-island