Tear gas at Portland protests raises concern about pollution

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The presence of U.S. agents has diminished in Portland, Oregon, but city officials are still cleaning up tear gas residue from the streets, dirt and possibly the storm drains after the chemical was used frequently by both police and federal officers during more than two months of often-violent protests over racial injustice.

The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services cleaned and took samples from six storm drains last week around the federal courthouse and a building with a police station and jail that have been targeted in nightly demonstrations. Environmental officials aimed to prevent pollutants from reaching the Willamette River, which runs through downtown and is popular with kayakers, canoeists and boaters, and determine the possible impact if contaminants did flow into the waterway.

“There is no American city, that I am aware of, that has endured the level of tear gas,” agency spokeswoman Diane Dulken said. “We are researching and looking through environmental literature. What are these materials and their toxicity?”

Officials said they’re testing for pollutants that are found in crowd control agents such as the heavy metals zinc, lead, copper and chromium.

Dulken said there is no evidence yet of tear gas residue reaching the river, “but it’s also hard to say because there is so much unknown about the materials and so much unknown about the quantities."

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and state Rep. Karin Power sent a letter last month to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality requesting an investigation into “the public health and environmental risks of tear gas and other chemicals to people, wildlife, aquatic life and local air and water quality.”

Blumenauer...