EQC to Hear Riverbend Earthquake Info January 22

by Susan Watkins

The state Environmental Quality Commission (the EQC) will receive a report from its staff at a special meeting January 22.  The report was requested by the EQC after Stop the Dump supporters detailed problems at the dump at the EQC's December 2012 meeting.

DEQ has been reviewing Waste Management's proposal to construct a 40-foot high wall on the Highway 18 side of the dump.  In the EQC report, DEQ landfill permit writer Bob Schwarz states that the Department "is currently considering allowing a berm design based on a magnitude 8.5 earthquake."  He adds, "DEQ's seismic consultant recommends approval of the design based on this site-specific assessment."

But other State of Oregon agencies rely on a magnitude 9.0 earthquake standard, which is 15-18 times stronger than 8.5.

As State Geologist Vicki McConnell points out to DEQ and the EQC in a letter dated January 16, 2013, "[T]he state-of-practice in seismic engineering design of major structures in Oregon includes a magnitude 9.0 Cascadia earthquake."  ODOT, the Department of State Lands, the state Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Land Conservation and Development, and the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Committee--even the Yamhill County Office of Emergency Management--all rely on the 9.0 standard.

DEQ points to federal requirements for use of 8.5.  But we have been told by staff at the Environmental Protection Agency that their regulations refer to slip-strike earthquakes, like those that bedevil California, not subduction earthquakes such as the "Big One" that will inevitably strike western Oregon.

We have notified the EQC that we expect them to join their sister agencies in adopting magnitude 9.0 as the construction standard.  We don't want the landfill to slide downhill into the South Yamhill River -- though 13,000,000 tons of garbage are already headed that way.

Allowing Riverbend to close when it reaches capacity in mid-2014 is the sanest way to address safety issues at the dump.  Please let DEQ know how you feel.  Contact them here.