Mini-Berm Still on DEQ's Plate

by Susan Watkins

11/23/2012 6:16:32 PM

Despite the community's insistence that DEQ require that the wall Waste Management wants to build on the Highway 18 side of the dump be built to withstand the looming 9.0 Cascadia earthquake, DEQ has not yet asked WM to meet that standard.  The wall (aka "mini-berm"), to be built of rock and dirt enclosed in wire cage "bricks," will be 40 feet high.  If built, the wall will allow WM to add an additional 1,000,000 tons of garbage to Riverbend, extending the dump's life 2-6 years.

DEQ follows standards that the engineering community now knows to be outdated.  Since the huge earthquake and devastating tsunami in Japan two years ago, scientists have realized that the subduction earthquake we are expecting any day now will be far stronger than previously estimated -- 5.5 times stronger, to be exact!

The Stop the Dump Coalition has hired internationally-known engineering firmKleinfelder to analyze data WM has submitted to DEQ.  Hopefully DEQ will listen to the experts and require any construction at the dump to meet known requirements -- or the entire landfill may slide in the South Yamhill River when the earthquake strikes.

Learn more about the definitely coming Cascadia subduction quake here.  Read about earthquake magnitudes here.