Nearly two years after officials discovered illegally dumped hazardous waste on a Powell Butte ranch, Dennis Beetham pleaded not guilty Thursday in the U.S. Courthouse in Portland to federal charges and is scheduled to enter a plea on state charges later this month.

The federal charges against the former Crook County resident and his company, D.B. Western Inc., allege that Beetham dumped formaldehyde and nitric acid, both hazardous materials and both separate charges, into a cinder cone on his former ranch sometime between June 2005 and August 2007. He also faces two charges for allegedly storing the hazardous materials on the ranch. The four federal charges all carry maximum prison terms of five years.

The federal charges stem from a violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The act prohibits the treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste and materials without a permit.

In Crook County Circuit Court, Beetham has been charged with first-degree unlawful air pollution, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He also faces 11 misdemeanor charges for unlawfully creating air pollution, disposal of solid waste without a permit, unlawfully creating water pollution and failure to complete a cleanup of a waste site. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $6,250 fine.

Beetham, of North Bend, owns and operates formaldehyde manufacturing plants in several states. Formaldehyde, a colorless gas that occurs naturally, is also produced by manufacturing facilities. Exposure to the gas can lead to respiratory problems and increase chances of cancer. Since Beetham was first given a notice from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in 2007, more than 3,000 tons of contaminated materials have been removed from the ranch.

The amounts of the hazardous waste that we found on this site is shocking in the extreme, said Les Carlough, a senior policy adviser with the department.

More to come?

DEQ still has several civil violations pending against Beetham, including open burning of industrial and other wastes, illegal transportation of hazardous wastes and placing waste where its likely to enter waters of the state. All the charges are connected to the Powell Butte site. However, those violations are currently on hold while the criminal process is ongoing.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently investigating the site.

There are still places within the main cinder pit and still places by the mare barn and the hay canopy … that need to be investigated, said Michael Boykin, with the EPA.

Boykin said he hopes the agency will be on-site at the ranch by September and finish the clean-up within a few months.

Lawyers for Beetham declined to comment but issued a news release to say their client was innocent.

D.B. Western, Inc. and its President, Dennis Beetham, have been charged in state and federal court with alleged violations of environmental laws by mishandling wastes on land formerly owned by Mr. Beetham in Powell Butte, Oregon, the release reads. D.B. Western and Mr. Beetham are confident that they will be found innocent of those charges.

DEQ suit

The news release also touches upon a lawsuit that Beetham and his company have against the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The breech of contract lawsuit alleges that the DEQ used improper testing methods that didnt show accurate levels of formaldehyde.

D.B. Western filed suit last summer for damages on the ground that when the government changed its test method it violated both its earlier agreements and the test method established by the Environmental Protection Agency, the release reads. D.B. Western will continue to pursue its suit against the government, and D.B. Western and Mr. Beetham will zealously defend themselves against the governments charges.

For those living near the Powell Butte ranch, its been a long couple of years.

Ill be glad when its over, and something is resolved one way or the other, said Nancy Knoche, whose house is about a quarter of a mile from the cinder pit.

Knoche said its been difficult for the people living near the ranch.

My husbands dad owned the Beetham ranch at one time, and ran it as a big cattle and grain operation. It was a compromise to a good ranch, the way the polluting happened, she said.

Lita Kilpatrick, who shares a fence line with the Beetham ranch, agreed.

Its a terrible thing; hes turned Powell Butte into a waste site, Kilpatrick said.

Both women said the incident has people in the area concerned about possible effects on their health.

I know there are neighbors who have had illnesses in their family and themselves that were strange, Knoche said. And weve seen different things in livestock that we cant prove: abnormal births, sudden deaths. Things that arent quite right, but theres no proof.