Oregon environmental regulators issued North Bend resident Dennis Beetham two notices for environmental violations in January. They concerned a ranch he owned in Central Oregon.

 The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality documents reference illegal disposal of hazardous and industrial wastes at the ranch in Powell Butte. The contamination included hundreds of tons of federally listed hazardous waste formaldehyde from chemical plants outside Oregon and more than 1,000 tons of contaminated cinder dug up from the ground, a Jan. 2 DEQ press release said.

DEQ records say investigators found chemical plant components, including process tanks, piping and condensers stored on site. A November 2007 pre-enforcement notice sent to Beetham indicated state officials believe those components and more than 10,000 pounds of waste formaldehyde came from a Virginia, Minn., plant owned by Beetham that was shut down in 2005.