[1] The site has been the focus of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) efforts to remediate a complex mix of toxic chemicals.
[4] In 1976, at a cost of $84,000, the state used bulldozers to push, crush and compact the leaking barrels into a dozen shallow, unlined, 400' long trenches, then covered them with soil.
[3][7] This trench method was the least expensive option presented to the DEQ, and was chosen against scientific advisors' advice and protest.
[3][4][7] The United States Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator over the area also opposed the trench remediation.
[3][8] A low-temperature methanogen extremophile, Methanohalophilus oregonense, was found at the dump site in 1989 by David Boone, an Oregon Graduate Institute scientist.