The permit application places the site inside the Beaver Drainage District
The joint permit application says the facility site is within the Beaver Drainage District and that the district is entirely contained within a series of levees.
The same application says surface and subsurface hydrology at the site has already been altered by ditching, drainage, levees, roads, railroads, and industrial facilities.
The application counts ditches and wetlands across most of the impact area
The permit application says multiple drainage ditches and two low-quality wetlands cover about 109.9 acres of the 122.5-acre impact site.
The acreage figures in the application place wet ground and drainage works across most of the proposed impact area.
DEQ's 401 certification routes runoff through district infrastructure
DEQ's 401 certification says treated runoff would move through Waterway F and McLean Slough to the Beaver Drainage Improvement Company's pumping station, then over the levee in winter and into irrigation use in spring and summer.
DEQ's order places project water management inside the district's existing drainage and irrigation routing.
Beaver Drainage Improvement Company objected to ditch changes
In its public comment letter, Beaver Drainage Improvement Company says it provides irrigation water to more than 2,700 acres and objects that the mitigation plan would fill about 26,800 linear feet of existing drainage ditches.
The district says those changes could shift costs onto other landowners, interfere with drainage and irrigation flows, and undermine maintenance of the levee-and-ditch system.
DEQ said levee engineering and floodplain permits sit elsewhere
DEQ's hearing-officer report says commenters raised flood, levee, and seismic concerns during the 401 review. DEQ responded that it does not issue decisions about levee engineering or seismic stability and that floodplain development permits are handled locally.
The hearing-officer report leaves water quality, levee engineering, and local floodplain review in separate agency lanes.
Sources & records
Reviewed by Standards Review. Updated April 14, 2026.
- Joint Permit Application
Official permit application saying the site is inside the Beaver Drainage District and levee system, that hydrology has been altered by ditching and flood-control works, and that multiple drainage ditches and wetlands remain across the impact site.
- Oregon DEQ 401 Water Quality Certification - Jan. 7, 2025
Official certification describing how treated runoff would move through Waterway F and McLean Slough to the Beaver Drainage Improvement Company pumping station, over the levee in winter, and into irrigation use in spring and summer.
- Oregon DEQ Hearing Officer Report and Response to Comments - Jan. 7, 2025
Official DEQ response saying commenters raised levee, flood, and seismic concerns and that DEQ does not issue decisions related to levee engineering or seismic stability, while floodplain development permits are approved locally.
- Beaver Drainage Improvement Company public comment letter (county-hosted)
County-hosted public comment letter from the Beaver Drainage Improvement Company describing its flood-control, drainage, and irrigation functions, the acreage it serves, and its objections to ditch-filling and hydrology changes at the mitigation site.
- Clatskanie Farmer Collective - Port Westward Review
Local review page highlighting levee, drainage, floodplain, farm-water concerns, and Beaver Drainage Improvement Company technical comments.
