BOARDMAN — Gov. Tina Kotek issued an executive order Jan. 13 to let the Port of Morrow apply wastewater to low-risk agricultural fields in the Lower Umatilla Basin during the nongrowing season, when application is normally prohibited.

Kotek’s intervened to prevent the port from shutting down, as its storage lagoon is near capacity after a heavy rainy period since November. The order went into effect Jan. 15 and lasts through February, the remainder of the nongrowing season.

Precipitation has been above the 95th percentile of the average for the previous 23 years, according to a press release announcing the order. The area had about 3.8 inches of rain in recent months, and the increased precipitation is expected to continue. Every inch of rain represents about 222 million gallons of capacity, meaning the port’s capacity to store wastewater is limited due to the higher precipitation.

Without the governor’s intervention, the port would have to stop receiving wastewater from food processing and other industrial facilities in the coming weeks if the storage capacity for wastewater were met. This would effectively stop operations at those facilities and “trigger furloughs of potentially thousands of workers,” which would mean “substantial economic harm” to the region and state, according to the press release.

Consequences of a shutdown

“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,” Kotek said.

Under its permit with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the port is not supposed to apply wastewater during the nongrowing season because of the potential to increase the level of nitrates in groundwater and drinking well water, which are higher than safe levels in some parts of Morrow and Umatilla counties.

Kotek pointed out agricultural producers have been working with the state and local partners, such as the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area Committee, to reduce the concentration of nitrates in their wastewater, especially during the nongrowing season.

“I did not make this decision lightly,” the governor said. “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.”

Anca Matica, a communications and policy adviser on climate and natural resources to the governor, said the port’s compliance schedule with the DEQ has been “a critical part” of the state’s long-term goals for reducing nitrates in the groundwater.

“But the economic consequences of a Port of Morrow shutdown to the state of Oregon — and really Oregon, Washington and Idaho — would impact not only port employees,” she said, “but also the employment and stability of some of Oregon’s largest producers and exporters, and that could present quite a serious downstream economic risk.”

Matica said the order is a “last resort step” after other, local attempts to avoid the storage lagoon meeting capacity.

“At this point, they are not confident that they’ll be able to get through this nongrowing season without land applying,” Matica said. “So the governor feels like it is pertinent to issue this executive order and ensure that the Port of Morrow has some cover, over a limited period, to land apply to specific farms that are not downgradient to domestic wells, if necessary.”

The DEQ selected fields it designated as low-risk for having nitrates infiltrating groundwater as there aren’t domestic wells for drinking water that are downstream from the farms.

Part of the reasoning behind allowing limited irrigation this winter is the state expects this to be the last winter with the Port of Morrow out of compliance for its storage requirements. By November 2025, the port should have a new storage lagoon able to hold more wastewater. DEQ water quality permitting manager Mike Hiatt said the port has been on track with its compliance plan.

“The port has been very forthright with information and continuing to keep us in the loop on their direction and challenges,” he said, “and they’ve done really well with a very aggressive compliance schedule.”

Stakeholders react to order

Local organizations seem to generally support the governor’s decision, which Matica said is a balancing act of considering the environmental, economic and human consequences.

The Port of Morrow’s executive director, Lisa Mittelsdorf, said she is grateful for the governor’s decision to step in.

“The port appreciates Gov. Kotek’s emergency order to keep our region’s economy running with low risk to groundwater as we proceed with our industrial wastewater treatment and water storage project,” she said.

Justin Green, executive director of Water for Eastern Oregon, also known as H2OEO, said his organization supports and agrees with the governor’s decision. Generally, he said, winter application is avoided because there are fewer plants and root systems to soak up the nitrates and nutrients in the water compared to the crops present during the growing season.

However, in this case, he said, winter application won’t put groundwater at risk.

“Data demonstrates recycled water can be carefully applied to low-risk fields, monitored with precision and avoid contributing nitrates to the groundwater,” he said. “(The decision is) based on science and data that’s been collected and will be collected, and ultimately we agree with the governor that all stakeholders need to be part of the solution to the nitrate issue broadly and we’re excited to see that many efforts are underway.”

Green said the decision, paired with the state’s Nitrate Reduction Plan, announced in late 2024, are part of a collective and collaborative effort to reduce nitrates in the groundwater while also supporting the more than 6,500 local jobs in place and maintaining the food system that Oregonians rely on.

But Kristin Ostrom, executive director of regional nonprofit Oregon Rural Action, disagreed with the decision.

She said the more urgent emergency is “the public health crisis and the economic harm to workers with polluted wells who can’t sell or borrow against their homes,” with some people having to use bottled water for drinking. She asked when the governor would step in on their behalf.

“It’s deceitful to claim an economic emergency and threaten to lay off workers and shut down the port when the truth is that the partner industries are making millions in profits — enough to treat the water and stop the harm,” Ostrom said.

Offering overall support of the choice, Stephanie Mendoza, financial analyst for Threemile Canyon Farms in Boardman, said she does recognize the importance of safe drinking water, since it’s an issue that affects everyone in the community and can impact people’s health.

“But shutting down the port wouldn’t have done anything to improve our longstanding issues with the groundwater or get clean drinking water into more homes,” she said. “It would just have cost us jobs and had a hugely negative impact on the local and state economy.”