The Legacy of Pollution: A South Oroville Timeline

1963: The First Koppers Fire

  • The Event: A massive fire ignites at the Koppers wood-treatment facility. It burns for a full week.
  • The Impact: Clouds of dioxin-laced smoke settle over the small farms and residential blocks of South Oroville.
  • The Evidence: Scientific studies later showed that livestock raised in the area decades later still carried the chemical signature of this specific fire.

1984: Federal Intervention

  • The Event: The Koppers facility is officially listed as a U.S. EPA Superfund Site.
  • The Reality: The soil and groundwater are found to be heavily contaminated with pentachlorophenol (PCP), dioxins, and heavy metals from decades of wood treatment operations.

1987: The “Toxic Cloud” Fire

  • The Event: A second, catastrophic fire at Koppers leads to the emergency evacuation of nearby residents.
  • The Impact: A plume of dioxin-contaminated smoke blankets the 95965 zip code.
  • The Follow-up: State testing of backyard chicken eggs as far as 7 miles away shows 72% contamination with dioxins.

1980s – 2012: The POPI Era

  • The Project: The Pacific Oroville Power Inc. (POPI) biomass plant begins operations at 3050 S. 5th Avenue.
  • The Bait-and-Switch: Originally designed to burn “clean” agricultural waste (rice straw), the plant pivots to burning “urban wood waste”—demolished buildings trucked in from the Bay Area—containing lead paint and chemical treatments.

2004 – 2008: The Health Crisis Surfaces

  • The Data: A California Department of Public Health report identifies a pancreatic cancer cluster in Oroville.
  • The Stats: Cases are documented at twice the expected rate. Butte County begins its climb to becoming #1 in the state for pancreatic cancer incidence.

2012: The DA Investigation & Closure

  • The Scandal: Butte County D.A. Mike Ramsey investigates POPI for environmental violations.
  • The Discovery: 20,000 tons of toxic fly ash are found illegally dumped on local land. Testing shows dioxin levels at 459 parts per trillion—halfway to “hazardous waste” levels and far above WHO safety standards.
  • The Result: The POPI plant is forced to shut down operations.

2024: The “BDO Zone” Rebrand

  • The Event: Butte County is designated as California’s first “BDO Zone.”
  • The Strategy: Outsourced groups and city officials begin marketing South Oroville as “Bio-manufacturing Ready,” essentially inviting new polluters back to the same contaminated sites.

2025 – 2026: The BREI / Gasification Threat

  • The Plan: Butte Renewable Energy Inc. (BREI) proposes a 5-phase “Energy Campus” on the exact site of the failed POPI plant.
  • The Deception: The project is marketed as “Clean Solar” (Phase 1) to hide the eventual “Biomass Gasification” (Phases 2-5).
  • The Community Stand: The Dioxin Education Committee (DEC) forms, backed by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, to stop the cycle of pollution.
Scroll to Top