With the city experiencing some of the most sustained Black Lives Matter protests in the country, efforts by local officials and researchers are under way to determine whether, and how, people and the environment are being affected.Night after night in Portland, tear gas and other crowd control devices have enveloped protesters and bystanders in airborne chemicals that settle on the ground, later to be washed into storm drains.Amid allegations that human health and the environment are suffering the consequences, five environmental groups represented by the ACLU of Oregon and others Tuesday sued the Department of Homeland Security. The federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. government violated federal environmental law by deploying “an unprecedented amount of dangerous chemical weapons” without assessing their environmental impacts beforehand, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.There was no immediate response to a request for comment from federal authorities.A Green Streets Managing Stormwater emblem is displayed by a stormwater drain near the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building where recent protests have been held in Portland, Ore., on Oct. 2, 2020.With the city experiencing some of the most sustained Black Lives Matter protests in the country, efforts by local officials and researchers are under way to determine whether, and how, people and the environment are being affected.Cyanide and heavy metals such as chromium and zinc were found by Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services at much higher levels in stormwater catch basins alongside a protest site than elsewhere in the city, the bureau said in a report last month.City officials said most contaminant levels in stormwater taken from a collection point 700 feet from the Willamette River, which bisects Portland, were lower than samples from a protest site several blocks farther from the waterway.”While pollutant levels that enter the Willamette River are thankfully low, the city is concerned about any and all additional pollution loads,” Environmental Services Director Mike Jordan said in September.Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality noted that “the repeated deployment of tear gas in downtown Portland has led to elevated levels of certain contaminants” in stormwater drains. But spokeswoman Susan Mills said the concentrations found in stormwater catch basins “are not likely high enough to cause immediate impacts to the environment.”Tear gas fills the air as police make a line of control during protests, Sept. 18, 2020, in Portland, Ore.Another survey, by Planned Parenthood North Central States and the University of Minnesota, is “very exploratory” and could also help determine what future studies need to be done, said Asha Hassan, lead researcher.Among obstacles to sorting out health and environmental impacts is lack of disclosure. There also is a lack of oversight by federal agencies, according to a previous AP investigation.The amounts of ingredients the crowd control agents contain are considered trade secrets, Portland officials said. And the devices don’t always list the substances created when they’re deployed.For example, safety data sheets for HC (hexachloroethane) smoke grenades — which have been deployed in Portland — don’t list zinc chloride, although it’s a known component of the smoke.Zinc chloride has resulted in fatalities and injuries to unprotected soldiers, according to a U.S. Army report. A European Union agency says it “is very toxic to aquatic life.”Figuring out precisely what tear gas components are in the environment is also a challenge.Pillsbury said she can’t draw a direct connection between substances found at high levels in catch basins and crowd control munitions “because these contaminants are associated with many daily activities and urban runoff.”
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