Today, Governor Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency due to the risk of economic shutdown impacting Morrow and Umatilla counties.

The emergency declaration makes an exception to the Port of Morrow’s current wastewater permit with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), authorizing the Port to apply wastewater if necessary to fields within the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area (LUBGWMA) that are either down gradient from any domestic wells or designated as “low-risk.” The declaration only allows this from January 15 through February 28, which marks the end of the agricultural winter “non-growing season” when irrigation is not undertaken to grow agricultural crops.

Governor Kotek stated:

“Morrow and Umatilla counties are key to our state’s agricultural production – directly and indirectly employing thousands of Oregonians, and feeding not just Oregonians, but families across the globe.

“My office has heard directly from producers and farmers in the Lower Umatilla Basin that pausing operations even for a short time in February would be devastating to the local economy and potentially shut down some operations permanently.

“This would result in lost jobs for community members across the region. Industries have taken voluntary measures to do their part to reduce wastewater in the Basin headed into this non-growing season, and we know that this will be the last winter when land application will occur due to the upgrades that the Port of Morrow is currently making and the updated schedule that DEQ has required.

“I did not make this decision lightly. We must balance protecting thousands of jobs in the region, the national food supply, and domestic well users during this short period of time during an unusually wet winter.

“I have been very clear in my expectation that all entities involved in the creation and reuse of wastewater in the Lower Umatilla Basin work with federal, state, and local partners in our shared goal of reducing the nitrate groundwater contamination in the basin. This remains unchanged. I expect partners in this ecosystem, along with the counties, will continue to explore connections to public water systems and other drinking water solutions for impacted residents in both the near and long term.”

Cumulative precipitation since November is currently above the 95th percentile of the average for the last 23 years in the region. Given measured cumulative precipitation to date, along with forecasted La Niña winter conditions, the Port of Morrow anticipates that precipitation and freezing conditions will combine to overwhelm wastewater storage capacity in February and exceed the capacity of the Port’s approved land application site to accept wastewater consistent with the soil moisture restrictions in the Port’s permit. A recent permit modification requires the Port to finish building its new lined storage lagoons this year, effectively ending future winter application on the land a year ahead of the previously agreed upon schedule. A DEQ permit modification now reflects this and sets a deadline of November 1, 2025.

The compounding effect of the high levels of precipitation and lack of adequate lagoon storage capacity poses an imminent risk that the Port may have to stop receiving wastewater from food processing and other industrial facilities in February, or sooner. This would cause those facilities to cease operations, which will in turn trigger furloughs of potentially thousands of workers resulting in substantial economic harm to the region and the State of Oregon.

This order follows the continued action and involvement of the state over the past two years that has been directed by Governor Kotek to address the ongoing nitrate levels in the groundwater in this region. These actions include:

• Providing free testing to all domestic well owners in the LUBGWMA as well as a large-scale canvas effort to reach homeowners in the region to provide education about high levels of nitrate in drinking water and free testing resources;
• Free filtration systems for homes that qualify;
• Clean drinking water delivered directly to homeowners;
• A comprehensive Nitrate Reduction Plan strategy developed by state agencies in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);
• Adding capacity and professional facilitation of the local LUBGWMA Advisory Committee to help provide the structure to create meaningful recommended actions from the local stakeholders;
• Quarterly meetings with the EPA to continue the state and federal collaboration and commitment to address the complex situation in the LUBGWMA;
• Visits to the area to meet directly with community members about drinking water concerns and with the industry and agricultural partners to push for more action; and
• Millions of dollars of investment from the state to cover the cost of testing, treatment, water delivery, and long-term strategy development.

Pursuant to ORS 401.165 et seq., Governor Kotek determined that to avoid the shutdown of food processing and agricultural industries in Morrow and Umatilla counties, while still ensuring the protection of groundwater and groundwater users, the restrictions specifically set forth in Schedule A, Conditions (6), (8), (11) and (13) of the DEQ Permit, as applied to Farm 1 and Farm 3, and exclusively to fields that are ranked as “Low Risk” by the Permit on Farm 4 and Farm 5 are waived for the duration of this Executive Order.

A link to Executive Order 25-02 can be found here.

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