Oregon Environmental Commission Eases Water-Quality Rules In Three River Basins

PORTLAND - State environmental officials have relaxed water-quality standards in three river basins that provide drinking water for nearly a half-million people.

The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission amended the so-called "Three Basin Rule" to to accommodate population growth and economic development.

However, the amendment also calls for maintaining water quality at close to existing levels for the Clackamas, North Santiam and McKenzie river basins.

Commissioners rejected an option that would have kept in place the current strict rule, which would allow no new discharges.

Kinross Copper Corp. President Art Ditto said despite the amendment, his company won't be able to proceed with plans to build a mine in the North Santiam basin.

Some of the 150 people at the commission hearing heckled Ditto, calling him "greedy" and a "fish killer."

Environmentalists were skeptical that Kinross would give up on its mining plan, which prompted the long process to amend the Three Basin Rule.

The controversy over the Three Basin Rule started more than a year ago, after the state was on the verge of issuing a permit to Kinross to discharge treated water from the mine into a tributary of the North Santiam River.

A department staffer realized the permit was not allowed under the Three Basin Rule and was issued erroneously, as were 90 other permits that had been allowed since the rule was adopted in 1977.

That prompted the effort to amend the rule to bring it into compliance with federal law and to make it more flexible. The existing rule could have barred any new pollution discharges, including those for septic tank repairs.