The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is removing petroleum-contaminated soil at Johnson Oil, a former gas station and car dealership in Clatskanie that began operating in 1957. The soil-removal is the latest effort to clean up the site, which has a history of contamination dating back to the 1980s. Columbia County acquired the property through foreclosure in 2007.
DEQ collaborated with the Clatskanie Cultural Center on a Story Map to provide a summary of site activities, current risk and future plans for Johnson Oil.
Previous environmental investigations performed by DEQ found contamination in soil, soil vapor and groundwater. DEQ pumped fluid from five underground storage tanks, removed or decommissioned those tanks and disposed of 190 tons of contaminated soil. DEQ also installed monitoring wells to determine whether future
Over the years, DEQ has used funding from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust, orphan funding, and State Response Grant-brownfield funding (provided by U.S. EPA) to assess and remediate contamination at Johnson Oil. Once DEQ determines that site conditions are safe for future use, DEQ will coordinate with the project partners — including Columbia County and the City of Clatskanie — on potential future use and redevelopment of the site.
DEQ collaborated with the Clatskanie Cultural Center on a Story Map* to provide a summary of site activities, current risk and future plans for Johnson Oil. The story map features lower-Columbia musical artists Phoenix Rising and their song titled “Twelve More Miles to Clatskanie.”
-Greg Svelund, DEQ Regional Solutions Coordinator
*Story Map credits: DEQ staff Ximena Cruz Cuevas, Rebecca Wells-Albers, Melyssa Graeper and Lauren Wirtis; and Deborah Hazen, Clatskanie Historical Society and Columbia County Commissioner Casey Garrett
Featured photo: A view of Clatskanie River behind the Johnson Oil cleanup site