POWELL BUTTE — A state environmental inspector said the removal of more than 3,000 tons of formaldehyde and other contaminated material from a Powell Butte ranch was the largest cleanup effort he’s ever worked on.

Jeff Ingalls, an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality hazardous waste inspector, spoke to about 60 people who turned out Wednesday evening to hear the latest developments in the investigation and cleanup of hazardous materials from a 600-acre ranch on Northwest McDaniel Road.

The meeting at Powell Butte Elementary School was the first chance for residents to hear from DEQ officials since the completion of the initial cleanup on the ranch.

Ingalls told residents that the site was the most serious he’d ever worked on in his 23-year career. But he said DEQ officials feel confident that they have removed the bulk of the hazardous materials during the cleanup process that began last fall.

“Our job was to go in and remove what we thought was the imminent threat,” he said. “I tell people that it’s like if you have cancer and you have a tumor and you go in and get that removed, and the doctor says ‘we think we got it all’ — that’s the way we feel. … We don’t have any information that would lead us to believe that there’s a huge volume of (additional materials) buried in Powell Butte at this time.”

The issue

DEQ officials have issued the property’s owner, Dennis Beetham, and his formaldehyde manufacturing company, D.B. Western, three notices for environmental violations ranging from illegal disposal of hazardous wastes to open burning of prohibited materials and operating a hazardous waste disposal site without a permit.

Marcy Kirk, the DEQ cleanup project manager, said officials are now looking into a few additional sites on the property that had been reported as potential dump sites. She said additional interviews with the people who reported the sites have turned up little information, but said officials would begin an investigation later this spring. Members of the public can comment on the work plan until April 18.

Beetham’s wife, Kathy Beetham, attended the meeting and answered some questions from residents. She said she believes that the newest allegations about additional dump sites — including some under a horse barn and a concrete driveway — are likely without merit.

“The indication that there was something under the mare barn came from gossip in a bar,” Kathy Beetham said. “I believe it was a bunch of people that got intoxicated and started talking … but we have to tell DEQ everything (we hear), whether we really believe it or not.”

But many of the residents who attended the meeting said they’re still worried about what the dumping could do to their health — and to their property values.

“My concern and the concern of a lot of other people here tonight has to do with property values,” said Steve Oberg, a bison rancher who lives directly south of the Beetham property. “People might be reluctant to move here because (this area) has a reputation from this clandestine disposal of toxic materials.”

What’s next

Officials said they’ve already tested more than 20 residential wells and found no harmful materials. A second test will be conducted in the fall.

Beetham and D.B. Western are also facing potential penalties at another Oregon location. Last month, on the same day that federal agents from the Environmental Protection Agency raided the company’s North Bend headquarters, the department issued a fourth notice for suspected waste storage and transportation violations at that location.

Officials believe that the materials found in both locations came from D.B. Western facilities in Minnesota and New Mexico that are no longer in operation. Information about both sites has been forwarded to DEQ’s office of compliance and enforcement, which could levy fines of up to $10,000 per violation for every day the violation occurred.