Business as Usual at North Portland Scrapyard, Despite Years of Environmental Violations 

Update: April 6: The Oregon Attorney General’s Office announced Monday that a motion has been filed requesting a contempt hearing for NW Metals, on behalf of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The motion alleges the scrapyard owner violated a 2021 court injunction requiring the company to comply with Oregon environmental law.

NW Metals LLC is facing new enforcement actions brought by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for repeated violations at its north Portland scrapyards. The notice, sent to the company in November 2025, lists a slew of violations including operating without the proper permits and continually dodging regulatory compliance. As part of the enforcement actions, NW Metals was fined more than $357,000. 

The newest enforcement actions are among many violations the company has faced over the last 15 years. As regulators, courts, and environmental groups continue to grapple with persistent violations by the company, the outcome may test how effectively Oregon enforces its environmental laws against repeat offenders.

The history of NW Metals LLC is long and storied.

Between 2010 and 2026, the company operated scrapyards at four different locations across Portland. State records show the locations consistently lacked the proper permitting while continuing to conduct business that posed environmental and health risks. 

The latest enforcement actions have left environmental organizations and community members wondering: How is this company still in business? 

What scrapyards do—and how they’re regulated

 Auto dismantlers, commonly referred to as scrapyards, process end-of-life vehicles by separating valuable metals from hazardous and non-recyclable materials. Before a car can be shredded, dismantlers must drain fluids such as oil, antifreeze, and brake fluid, remove batteries and airbags, and properly manage tires and other waste. 

Each of these steps carries environmental risks. Automotive fluids and lead-acid batteries can contaminate groundwater and stormwater. Improperly handled airbags can release sodium azide, a highly toxic compound. Tires can leach microplastics, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are especially harmful to salmonids if they reach waterways. 

For that reason, scrapyards in Oregon are regulated by multiple agencies. 

Operators must obtain a dismantler’s certification from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), air quality permits from DEQ for shredders, stormwater permits if hazardous runoff can reach waterways, and waste tire storage permits if more than 100 tires are kept onsite.

NW Metals, however, has consistently operated outside those requirements. 

Northwest Environmental Defense Center sues NW Metals

 NW Metals first gained public attention in 2013 when the Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC) filed a lawsuit against the company, formerly called Parkrose Auto Center, alleging toxic water discharges from its Columbia Boulevard scrapyard. The suit cited “measurable concentrations of aluminum, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, zinc, and total dissolved solids” and noted visible oil slicks flowing into the Columbia Slough. 

The case resulted in a consent decree requiring NW Metals to clean up the scrapyard and take steps to prevent future discharges. The company ignored the decree and was found in contempt of court by late 2015. 

Mark Riskedahl, director of NEDC, told the Mercury at the time, “They’ve been really nefarious. They want you to believe they’re not really getting what they’re supposed to be doing.” 

Amid mounting enforcement, the company—under the name Parkrose Auto—legally dissolved in March 2015. 

The fire that changed everything 

By early 2014, NW Metals had reemerged and resumed operations at 7600 NE Killingsworth Avenue in the Cully neighborhood–this time under its current name NW Metals. Complaints from neighbors and enforcement actions began almost immediately. 

Residents reported cars stacked 30 feet high across an area the size of a football field. Between 2014 and 2017, DEQ received four complaints, including one in December 2017 regarding improperly stored automotive fluids that posed a serious risk to the community’s water. DEQ did not follow up. 

That changed on March 12, 2018, when a five-alarm fire erupted at the scrapyard. Thick black smoke forced the evacuation of 145 residents, including 115 children at nearby Sacajawea Head Start. Over 1,500 tires fueled the blaze, according to firefighters who responded. The fire burned for 36 hours, destroyed an apartment complex and duplex, and damaged countless homes and businesses. There were no human fatalities, but 16 cats died, along with a resident’s pet birds, and 10 dogs were rescued.

In April 2018, DEQ issued a press release stating NW Metals was responsible for cleaning up the site, but the state agency lacked authority to fine them for individually damaged homes or businesses.

The company was initially fined just over $59,000 in civil penalties for the fire and $85,000 in clean-up costs. By December, DEQ twice amended the enforcement order and civil penalty, which cited additional violations and assessed additional penalties. The civil penalty in the amended enforcement order was a little over $77,400. The fines were largely for violations related to the fire, including improper waste storage, failure to conduct hazardous waste determinations, unpermitted tire storage, unpermitted shredder operation, and failure to develop a stormwater mitigation plan. 

Despite orders, owner Moyata Anotta began restacking cars on top of the burnt debris. When asked about Anotta’s actions, Paul Seidel of DEQ told KATU at the time, “Our cleanup rules do not require them to cease operations.” 

Oregon Senate bill addresses scrapyard hazards

In July 2019, the five-alarm fire and repeated violations by NW Metals had caught the attention of state legislators. Tina Kotek, speaker of the Oregon House at the time, made a legislative push to prevent such a fire from happening again. 

She and other lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 792 in the 2019 session. The primary aim of the bill was to remove the waste tire permit exemption that scrapyards had utilized up until that point. The severity of the 2018 Killingsworth fire was due, in part, to the improper storage of a large amount of waste tires at the facility. A valid waste tire permit at the Killingsworth site would have required NW Metals to develop a fire safety plan and be subject to regular inspections from the local fire marshal. A requirement that likely could have mitigated the severity of the blaze. 

The bill eventually passed and was signed into law by Governor Kate Brown. It took effect on January 1, 2020. 

New requirements under the bill meant that scrapyards were subject to annual inspections by ODOT and local fire inspectors, and owners were required to maintain an up-to-date fire response plan. The law called for increased oversight of the industry by DEQ. It also authorized ODOT to impose sanctions on dismantlers for offenses covered under specified environmental statutes. But the bill stopped short of addressing DEQ’s authority regarding permitting of companies with a history of environmental violations. 

“Businesses that repeatedly violate our air quality and environmental standards put our communities in danger,” Kotek said in a statement. “The DEQ should have the authority to deny permits based on multiple past violations so we can prevent avoidable catastrophes like the 2018 fire at NW Metals.” 

The violations continue 

Even after years of enforcement actions, fines, and court orders, NW Metals continued to operate in ways that frustrated regulators and environmental advocates alike. 

Cleanup at the Killingsworth fire site stalled to such an extent that DEQ was forced to obtain an injunction from Multnomah County Circuit Court in November 2019. 

“Sufficient progress towards compliance has not been made and NW Metals continues to pose a threat to public and environmental health and safety,” the injunction stated. 

By this time, the company had moved operations to two new facilities: one on Columbia Boulevard near Pier Park (a different location from their previous Columbia Boulevard site) and another on Commercial Avenue. At both locations, NW Metals continued to operate metal and auto shredders out of compliance–sometimes without the proper permits. 

The company did, however, operate with a valid Air Contamination Discharge Permit (ACDP) for its Columbia Boulevard site, though the specific guidelines set by DEQ were not always followed. The company, however, has never possessed an ACDP for the Commercial Avenue site, which it was cited for in the November 2025 enforcement action. 

In addition, an email from ODOT confirmed that NW Metals possessed a dismantler’s certification for the Columbia Boulevard site (which is no longer in operation), but does not possess a dismantler’s certification for its Commercial Avenue site.

According to DEQ records, the company also never possessed waste tire permits for either site, which were required starting in 2020 with the passage of SB 792– another violation that was cited in the 2025 enforcement action.

In early 2021, DEQ and NW Metals returned to court, resulting in a stipulated injunction that explicitly prevented NW Metals from operating any of its shredders at either site without an ACDP. Yet the company continued to conduct operations in defiance of the court order, continuing a pattern of noncompliance. 

The injunction also required NW Metals to comply with all regulations regarding air quality, solid waste, and water quality. Once again, the company largely ignored these requirements. 

Owner files a civil rights lawsuit against DEQ 

In a surprising escalation, Anotta, the owner of NW Metals, filed a civil rights lawsuit against DEQ in June 2022. The lawsuit claimed that DEQ had wrongly required him to obtain an ACDP and had unfairly imposed restrictions on one of his shredders. Anotta, who is Black, also alleged racial discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, asserting that DEQ treated his company differently from white-owned dismantlers. 

The lawsuit argued that Anotta was deprived of due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment. It accused DEQ of “improper enforcement of state policies by racially motivated state agents” and alleged that his civil rights had been violated through targeted regulatory action. 

This claim reflected a longer history of Anotta asserting that enforcement actions against NW Metals were racially motivated. For years, he contended that similar businesses with white owners were not subjected to the same permitting requirements, inspections, and fines that DEQ imposed on NW Metals. 

“NW Metals has reason to believe that it has been subjected to disproportionate scrutiny and enforcement pressure compared to similarly situated businesses operating in the same region and industry,” Anotta stated in an email, in response to questions from the Mercury. “This raises serious questions about fairness, consistency, and whether implicit bias or unequal treatment may be influencing regulatory actions.” 

The case proceeded to summary judgment, and the federal judge ruled in favor of DEQ, dismissing all of Anotta’s claims. Undeterred, Anotta filed an appeal in April 2025, and the case is now headed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

A breaking point and an uncertain future 

As the years progressed, NW Metals continued to operate without proper permits, leaving community members and environmental groups increasingly frustrated. 

“In general, we recognize the need for materials recycling and reuse as part of sustainability for our communities, Oregon’s sustainability programs, and a just transition,” says Jamie Pang with the Oregon Just Transition Alliance. “We are disappointed to see another fine for a recycling producer from Portland that violated environmental permits, and impacted their local communities nearby.” 

This ongoing noncompliance culminated in November 2025, when DEQ issued its largest enforcement action against the company to date—a $357,461 fine. During its 2025 enforcement action, DEQ found the facility was operating without required air quality and solid waste permits. In fact, NW Metals has never had a valid solid waste permit for any site in the history of the company. 

“DEQ issued this penalty because your unpermitted metal recycling operations at both properties have created a risk to the environment and public health,” Erin Saylor, interim manager of compliance and enforcement at DEQ, wrote to NW Metals in the violation notice. The letter cited “ongoing violations” at the Commercial Avenue location and a history of “violations at multiple properties in Portland over the past several years.”  

At that time, NW Metals had already ceased operations at its Columbia Boulevard location a year prior. However, regulators required the company to work with property owners to clean up scrap and waste tires from the site. 

DEQ officials reported seeing several violations firsthand. On January 9, 2025, and again on February 6, 2025, inspectors observed NW Metals using a prohibited shredder, as well as a conveyor, separator, and excavator, at the Commercial Avenue facility. Hazardous materials—automotive fluids, batteries, and other contaminants—were exposed to the elements, DEQ staff noted. The enforcement actions tied to the November 2025 fine required NW Metals to immediately cease operating any shredders without proper permits, and to provide written proof of compliance to DEQ or apply for the necessary permit. 

“We are actively pursuing appropriate legal and administrative avenues to address these issues and to ensure that our rights — and the rights of other small and minority-owned businesses — are protected,” Anotta stated, when asked whether NW Metals plans to dispute the fines. 

A slew of other compliance requirements were imposed on NW Metals. “DEQ-issued penalties increase for repeat violations and the longer that our enforcement orders are not complied with,” DEQ Public Affairs Specialist Michael Loch told the Mercury. 

“DEQ also has the authority to consider NW Metals’ past violations when making permitting decisions, should NW Metals decide it wants to legally continue its operations that require DEQ permits,” Loch continued. “The longer NW Metals operates illegally, the more severe civil penalties we can issue according to our enforcement guidance.” 

The future of the company’s legal ability to operate remains unclear. DEQ confirms NW Metals does not have any current permits with the agency, despite the scrapyard’s ongoing operations.