Here is an Article on who I learned everything I needed to know about toxicology from 20 years ago (we actually offered to clean the place up 20 years ago to have the warehouse turned into a Alcohol producing plant as a alternative source to gasoline). The thing that Mr. Back didn't find out was Irwin Grant collected Toxic Waste dumps literally. Him and his street people would go out and sludge about in the 100s of little Love Canals of the Pacific North West.

In a Magic Christian kind of way the stuff was actually valuable having about 5 ounces of gold per ton (I am certain Dr Grant cried at there departure). One of the street people decided to go directly after the source, mine his own toxic waste dumps. After a year he said "Eureka"! Nate Clark had not only found gold but had found 120 toxic substances and like a cherry on the top of the mutagenic heap he had hideous sores on the end of his nose.

Grant Warehouse: another environmental horror

Brian J. Back Business Journal Staff Writer

Portland's Grant Warehouse sits inconspicuously on the corner of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Ivy Street, about a half mile from the Willamette River.

In containers ranging from tiny vials, milk jugs and unlabeled jars to immense, leaky vats, nearly 10,000 chemicals were recovered in 1998 from the warehouse, which sat 100 feet away from another residence--and just down the street from a day-care center and gas station.

It was a metallurgical laboratory so cluttered with debris that movement from room to room was made possible by what the Environmental Protection Agency called "goat paths." And building owner, 75-year-old Erwin Grant, was described by one city official as "something of a mad scientist."

"It was not a matter of `Could it blow up?'; it was a matter of `When will it blow up?' " said Domonic Boswell, a city representative for the Portland Brownfield Showcase Initiative, a consortium of government and development agencies.

Grant Warehouse, an environmental horror story, has been designated a brownfield showcase property by the EPA. Unlike Rose City Plating in Sellwood, there are no immediate plans to redevelop the site. But as a brownfield showcase, a developer would be eligible for revolving loans and tax incentives.

EPA currently has a $1.2 million lien on the property to recover clean-up costs.

"The property is not worth that, but the EPA is saying, `We're first in line on that,' " said Dan Heister, an EPA "loaned executive" for the Portland Brownfield Showcase Initiative.

Property owner Grant, who recently evaluated his case before an impartial hearings officer, can turn the property over to EPA or fight the case in court. Grant also could still face criminal charges for irresponsible storage of chemicals.

"He disputes the lien at this point," said Don Roach, Grant's attorney. "A lot depends on what the government does."

Because Grant has not been responsive to the community's concerns, Heister said, Grant Warehouse is not an ideal brownfield demonstration site.

"Typically, we don't want an unwilling owner forced out," he said.

"[Grant]'s got a huge white elephant staring him in the face. We hope that will get resolved. We think [Grant turning over the property] is the only way to get anything resolved. But property owners have rights," he added.

Built in 1925 as a slaughterhouse, Grant Warehouse has housed an auto-repair facility, a welding shop and foundry for melting down lead from batteries. For a time, the polluted 19,000-square-foot facility also was home to a parked busload of homeless people.

The Grant Warehouse story came into public light in October 1998. A modest media frenzy unfolded when a few of the homeless lodgers allegedly got rowdy enough to compel Grant to call the Portland police department.

When police arrived, they reportedly couldn't believe what they saw. The Portland Fire Bureau was dispatched, and Grant Warehouse was immediately stamped as a fire hazard.

A few weeks after police discovered the unbelievable scene, a search warrant was issued and sample collection began.

About $1 million in federal emergency funds were spent for removal of nearly 10,000 chemicals, including acids, cyanides and ether.

Others discoveries were of the obscure and mysterious variety, and queries were made to Dow Chemical Co. about chemicals it produced. In December 1998, the Drug Enforcement Agency and Oregon State Police inspected the warehouse for evidence of narcotic production.

Boswell said that for 20 years, Grant was buying scrap metal and practicing some form of alchemy.

"Near as we can tell, he was buying old school science chemicals--tons and tons of those chemicals," he said.

Cleanup specialists reported difficulty maneuvering through the warehouse without knocking over chemicals. There were also tensions at the cleanup site resulting from discrepancies in safety requirements.

Throughout the lengthy removal action, several spills occurred, each causing some degree of panic among workers.

Once it was determined that an immediate public threat was stifled, the EPA wrapped up its work.

Potential dangers still exist at the warehouse, however. Contaminated brick chimneys, for instance, have only been plugged, and warning messages are stenciled on the chimney walls.

DEQ reports that the site has been cleaned to "industrial standards."

Though Grant could still face criminal charges, his ownership rights have not been challenged. Meanwhile, Grant has told officials that he just wants to be left alone with his warehouse.

Multnomah County--which "holds ownership to more questionable property than any other agency"--would like to foreclose on the property, Boswell said. But there are inherent difficulties to this task.

For one, property taxes have been consistently paid. Grant, who is said to have difficulty hearing, has attended public meetings regarding the site's future.

At one such meeting, he reportedly said his attorney advised him to make no statements. Later, he accused the EPA of destroying some of his belongings during the emergency cleanup efforts.

Additional studies will have to be made. The warehouse is currently uninhabitable due to building code violations.

It was reported that the 20 homeless people living in and around a broken-down bus at Grant Warehouse were relocated to nearby shelters.

Of those 20 people, some of whom were paying rent to stay at the warehouse, only five have been tracked down and tested for toxicity.

The results reportedly turned up negative, but there are lingering concerns for the homeless persons not yet found.

As Portland brownfield developer Loren Waxman sums it up, Grant Warehouse is "even more preposterous than the story of Rose City Plating."

Galen:

Its funny when you think this was about a mile from down town Portland. Have you ever noticed how toxic the Periodic Table early is, most of the stuff on it will kill your ass with less than a gram. Even the milder forms of elements like the oxide of silicon once in your lungs pretty much stays there forever. Sodium, Potassium, Calcium in their pure state burn when they come in contact with water, pop a gram in your mouth and your head would explode. Carbon is OK ish. Oxygen is questionable in large amounts especially when flame or sparks are involved. Iron is all right as long as you don't eat more than your one-gram and if it is not radioactive (because it has the longest half life of any element, 200 million years or something).