Ali Mirzakhalili has worked as Oregon DEQ’s Air Quality Division administrator since 2018, but he has been involved with environmental issues for much longer. For Air Quality Awareness Week, we thought it was a good time to ask him about what drew him to this work and how he feels about Oregon’s environmental future.
Category Archives: community engagement
Food waste reduction work hits major milestone
Curbing the 35% of food that goes uneaten each year will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water and land resources, and support those facing food insecurity— which has become increasingly critical in the wake of COVID-19.
3 Earth Month tips you can use every day
Simple steps to protect our planet
Willamette Cove Cleanup Plan: 3 things to know
The Willamette Cove Upland cleanup plan protects human health and the environment.
DEQ expands eligibility for school bus engine grants
Across the state, students are beginning to head back to in-person schooling, and that means more and more school buses are returning to the roads. As such, Oregon DEQ is working to make that transportation cleaner and safer for those children and the environment.
Oregon DEQ’s Vehicle Inspection Program puts 2020 in rearview mirror
From the extraordinary pandemic to the intruding smoke from massive wildfires, 2020 presented Oregon DEQ’s vehicle testing inspectors with demands they had never before encountered.
State natural resource agencies report improvements in water quality in parts of Oregon
A new interagency report shows a drop in pesticide levels in a majority of watersheds across Oregon monitored by a coalition of state agencies. The finding is contained in the 2017-19 Biennium Report, which looks at pesticide levels in selected streams in various parts of Oregon. The report is authored by an interagency water qualityContinue reading “State natural resource agencies report improvements in water quality in parts of Oregon”
Local communities get boost for projects that reduce waste
Nearly 20 organizations around the state can now step up their efforts to reduce waste, increase reuse and repair, resue food and support responsible recycling.
DEQ experts to share environmental knowledge and experience
More than a dozen experts with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality are preparing to participate in 13 of 32 sessions on environmental protection, compliance, new technologies, sustainable business practices and trending policy issues Dec. 8-9 during the Business and Environment Conference sponsored by DEQ, Washington Department of Ecology and the Northwest Environmental Business Council.Continue reading “DEQ experts to share environmental knowledge and experience”
Restoring beauty and justice for the Klamath River
DEQ Director Richard Whitman recently stumbled on a 1958 KGW-TV documentary Crisis in the Klamath Basin. According to the Oregon Historical Society, the piece broke important new ground for television and the young producer, Tom McCall, who later would serve eight years as Oregon governor. McCall’s first documentary followed shortly after Congress voted to begin terminating treaty tribes, and previewed the disestablishment of the Klamath reservation of over a million acres.