Testing grant

A group called the Oroville Dioxin Education Committee (ODEC) has applied for a grant to do further testing for the cancer-causing pollutant dioxin. Testing over the years has revealed dioxin in chicken eggs and soil in the area around the Highway 70 Industrial Park.

The dioxin was generated by a couple of sources, the Koppers wood-treatment plant, which caught on fire in the late 1980s, spewing dioxin-laden smoke in a region of houses and farms south of the plant. More recently, the toxins came from the emissions from the Pacific Oroville Power Inc. cogeneration plant, which burned “urban waste” to create electricity. That plant closed two years ago.

The grant, if approved, would be administered by the city with funding from the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Contractors.

According to ODEC, the Butte County Public Health, Environmental Health Division has issued a report called “Dioxin in Oroville Summary and Recommendations.” The office can be reached at 538-7281.