Category Archives: community engagement

Taking Air Quality Science to the Classroom – and Beyond

DEQ Air Quality Monitoring Engagement Coordinator Hillarie Sales and Air Quality Coordinator Morgan Schafer have been working all year with a class of middle-schoolers at Sunny Wolf Charter School who have a great interest in science and learning more about air quality and hope to develop formal curriculum from this experience for other classrooms and the general public.

Personal Essay: Integrating Regional Solutions to DEQ’s Mission

Earth Day 2022 has come and gone, but I still think about the iconic “Earth Rise” image. Because I am a geographer, I recognize the collective and sweeping focus and perspective on air, land and water all Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s employees share in our common mission. For me and my own niche, it is such a privilege to work alongside dedicated DEQ professionals, and through the variety of ways the Regional Solutions program compliments and extends our work.

Your DEQ Online technology fee takes effect in July

Starting in July, a 4% technology fee will be charged on all financial transactions in Your DEQ Online, except agency-issued penalties. The fee, which was authorized by the 2021 Oregon Legislature, is necessary to pay for annual operation and maintenance costs of Your DEQ Online

Air Quality Awareness Week: How do I make my air quality data count?

It’s Air Quality Awareness Week and the DEQ Laboratory and Environmental Assessment Division (You may know us as “The Lab”) thought it a great time to address one of the most common questions we receive: What is the difference between air quality data collected by DEQ and that collected by people with low-cost sensors? As scientists, we might frame the question as so: How do I collect data of known quality?

Planting roots: Lessons from my parents in sustainable living

My parents were depression-era Oklahoma farm kids who came of age at a time and place that required men and women to have practical knowledge about a bit of everything. They were carpenters, hunters, farmers, seamstresses, veterinarians and mechanics. They grew or raised their own food and preserved it for lean times.

The three most important ways Oregon is fighting climate change

cent headlines warn that the window is quickly closing to protect our future and preserve a livable planet. In Oregon, we have seen the effects of the climate crisis first-hand:  hundreds of deaths from extreme heat waves; thousands of homes destroyed by wildfire; lakes and rivers drying up before our eyes; farmers without water to grow food; and the toxic algal blooms that shut down the city of Salem’s drinking water system for weeks in 2018.

Johnson Oil in Clatskanie one step closer to redevelopment after latest DEQ cleanup project

DEQ 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 and Oregon Sea Grant invite Oregon businesses to apply to host pollution prevention interns

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Oregon Sea Grant are excited to announce the opportunity for Oregon businesses to host a paid, 10-week, full-time sustainability intern for the summer through the Oregon Applied Sustainability Experience Internship program.

Environmental Quality Commission votes to establish Climate Protection Program

New DEQ program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon by 90% by 2050 Statewide, OR — Today the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission voted 3-1 to establish the Climate Protection Program which sets enforceable and declining limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels used throughout Oregon. The limits apply to diesel, gasoline, natural gasContinue reading “Environmental Quality Commission votes to establish Climate Protection Program”