Published 10:00 am Thursday, April 30, 2026

The best hope for progress on southern Deschutes County’s groundwater contamination could be the polite feud between Commissioners Phil Chang and Tony DeBone that flared up at Wednesday’s Deschutes County Commission meeting.

First, you need a smidge of background. Chang had written a guest column in The Bulletin saying DeBone’s legacy on south county groundwater was neglect. DeBone fired back with a column of his own in Wednesday’s paper saying Chang sat on the crisis as a commissioner. You can read them here: tinyurl.com/Changwater and here: tinyurl.com/DeBonewater .…