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J.H. Baxter and its president plead guilty to environmental violations, lying to federal regulators

EPA warning sign outside shuttered wood treatment facility.
Brian Bull
/
KLCC
In this photo from Sept. 8, 2024, an EPA warning sign is displayed outside the J.H. Baxter wood treatment facility. It closed down on Jan. 31, 2022.

The operator of a now-shuttered wood treatment facility in Eugene has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of breaking clean air and hazardous waste laws, and will pay $1.5 million in criminal penalties. 

In three separate plea agreements filed Wednesday, J.H. Baxter & Co. Inc., and company president Georgia Baxter-Krause admitted to violating the federal Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

The news stunned and pleased Eric and Lisa Dion. The couple suspects Eric’s case of pediatric cancer that struck him a couple years ago was caused by growing up and playing around the wood treatment plant in the Bethel neighborhood.

“Yeah, I was just across the street from there on Baxter Street,” Eric Dion recalled. “I was up and down that bike path all the time, it’s not a clean ditch but I did it anyways. And I regret that I did.” 

Eric Dion says he spent nearly 20 years in the area, which has seen its share of complaints from local residents. His wife, Lisa, says these have ranged from powerful odors emanating from the Baxter wood-treatment facility at night, to concerning levels of dioxins found in local gardens and yards. 

Couple with dog.
Brian Bull
/
KLCC
Eric and Lisa Dion in their Eugene home with their dog, Hugo. The couple believe that Eric's recent health issues came from a childhood spent outside the J.H. Baxter wood treatment plant.

“Knowing how many health issues people in that neighborhood have because of J.H. Baxter, Georgia Baxter-Krause’s got blood on her hands,” said Lisa Dion. She said she has PTSD from trying to take care of her husband, often unsure whether he was dying or not until he was able to get on Tovorafenib, a chemo medication that was fast-tracked by the FDA.

Since getting on a regimen, Eric says he’s "about 75% back to normal," but says sometimes it’s hard to focus and move. The couple feel better about his progress, and are both elated -and angry- at the news that J.H. Baxter and its president have admitted guilt. 

J.H. Baxter and Baxter-Krause pleaded guilty to four felony environmental crimes involving toxic waste discharge, as well as two counts of lying about the releases to federal regulators.

Lisa Arkin is executive director of Beyond Toxics. The environmental advocacy group has often spoken out against Baxter’s wood treatment site in Eugene, citing residents' concerns over odors and Baxter-Krause’s elusiveness in addressing their concerns.

Arkin told KLCC that news of the plea agreements was both exhilarating and unexpected.

“I thought it would take years," she said. "These are overburdened neighborhoods that have been enduring this toxic assault for years and years and years, and being lied to. My heart is going out to those people because of what they endured.”

The violations in question 

In a news release, the U.S. Department of Justice said J.H. Baxter pumped nearly 2 million gallons of liquid process waste and released it illegally into the surrounding air throughout 2019. Daily production logs showed between January and February of 2019, Baxter operators boiled off the hazardous wastewater in four of its five retorts on 136 known days. 

Retorts are large cylinders that are sealed while containing lumber, to pressurize hazardous chemicals such as creosote, ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate, and pentachlorophenol into the wood to make them waterproof and resistant to insects. 

The use of retorts to boil off wastewater was not permitted under the RCRA, and was also done without the knowledge or permission of state and local regulators. It’s led to four charges of environmental violations, and two counts of making false claims after Baxter-Krause lied to the federal government about the frequency and duration of these releases.

Sentencing in the case is set for April 22, which also happens to be Earth Day.

In the plea agreement, the federal government recommended that U.S. District Court judge Michael McShane fine both Baxter company entities $1 million , and Baxter-Krause $500,000. She faces up to two years in federal prison with three years of supervised release. 

Amy Potter, who is serving as Baxter-Krause’s lawyer, declined comment. 

The EPA Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case, with help from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, EPA Region 10, and the Oregon State Police. 

Two class-action lawsuits - Bell-Alanis v. J.H. Baxter & Co and Miles Hart v. J.H. Baxter & Co - were filed against J.H. Baxter in 2021. The Dions say this latest development should give attorneys with those cases fresh ammunition. 

“I just felt that it came down to money and greed,” said Eric Dion, on why J.H. Baxter continued to operate in spite of knowingly violating environmental laws. “They just don’t care.” 

Copyright 2025, KLCC.

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
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