Recent Press Releases

Lawsuit Filed Against DHS, October 20, 2020

On October 20, Willamette Riverkeeper filed suit along with several other organizations (Cascadiawildlands, Neighbors for Clean Air, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides and 350pdx) against the FederalDepartment of Homeland Security for violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

NEPA requires an analysis of environmental impacts related to significant federal actions, and in this case the action is nearly 100 days of discharging tear gas and other substances into the environment very near the Willamette River. 

While these substances of course affected people immediately when they were discharged, they also coated portions of the streets and trees, and then got into the stormwater system and made it to the Willamette River.

WR members identified the empty canisters that were at the river’s edge and in the nearshore area. The DHS has internal guidance that indicates they need to adhere to NEPA. This important law puts the responsibility on the government to analyze, evaluate, and discern whether their actions will be harmful to the environment, and in the DHS action in Portland, none of this was done.

WR and the other groups are represented by the Oregon ACLU, as well as the firm Markowitz/Herbold and our awesome staff Attorney Elisabeth Holmes.

Leading up to this, WR filed a Freedom of Information Act request that has not been responded to in regard to specifically what chemicals were in the munitions used near the Willamette River. Some of the publicly available information indicates that common chemicals in the canisters used can be lethal to aquatic life and plant species .

This is not an action we take lightly, but we feel this lapse by the Federal Government is significant and that their lack of evaluation could potentially put people and the environment at risk. Ultimately it is THEIR responsibility to conduct this analysis.